Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Rating Increased to B- at TheStreet

TheStreet upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Rating) from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note published on Monday morning, TheStreetRatingsTable reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $154.00 to $152.00 in a research report on Friday, March 25th. Raymond James decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $156.00 to $153.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 25th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $155.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Friday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, April 12th. They issued a buy rating and a $162.00 target price on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $162.05.

NYSE:DRI opened at $126.90 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $130.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.32. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $116.04 and a 12-month high of $164.28.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 24th. The restaurant operator reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.09 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 36.26%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 41.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 7.38 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 8th were paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 7th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 55.42%.

In other news, Director Juliana L. Chugg purchased 1,925 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $129.01 per share, for a total transaction of $248,344.25. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $874,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Resources Investment Advisors LLC. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Resources Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 1,437 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,330 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,639,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 31.9% during the 4th quarter. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 1,622 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. 90.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile (Get Rating)

Darden Restaurants, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. As of May 30, 2021, it owned and operated 1,834 restaurants, which included 875 under the Olive Garden, 533 under the LongHorn Steakhouse, 170 under the Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, 81 under the Yard House, 63 under The Capital Grille, 44 under the Seasons 52, 42 under the Bahama Breeze, and 26 under the Eddie V's Prime Seafood brands.

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