Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Earns Equal Weight Rating from Stephens

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by Stephens in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $210.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price objective would indicate a potential downside of 0.57% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 13th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.21.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $211.21 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $24.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. DV Trading LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 140.6% during the 1st quarter. DV Trading LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 59,432 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,651,000 after buying an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 9,923 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 7,859 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after buying an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.