Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given Buy Rating at TD Cowen

TD Cowen reiterated their buy rating on shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a $190.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on DRI. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $180.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup cut their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $192.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Darden Restaurants from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $178.85.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE DRI opened at $154.55 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.45 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.25. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $133.36 and a 1 year high of $176.84. The business’s 50-day moving average is $165.01 and its 200 day moving average is $159.00.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.94% and a net margin of 9.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $1.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 61.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 6,831 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.26, for a total value of $1,115,229.06. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,124,959.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total transaction of $192,857.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,723 shares of company stock worth $2,578,122 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DRI. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,168,604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $167,359,000 after acquiring an additional 418,860 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at $58,601,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,602,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $229,516,000 after acquiring an additional 340,467 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 129.6% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 553,721 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,976,000 after acquiring an additional 312,531 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at $45,321,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.