Stephens Reiterates Equal Weight Rating for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by analysts at Stephens in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $205.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 2.24% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on DRI. Mizuho raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.63.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $200.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $23.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.62.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total transaction of $1,471,173.36. Following the transaction, the insider owned 44,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,165,474.24. This trade represents a 13.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total value of $546,393.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,761.28. This trade represents a 39.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 98.5% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 64,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,206,000 after purchasing an additional 31,815 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 164.1% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 3,027 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,536,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,816,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after buying an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.