Darden Restaurants’ (DRI) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at TD Securities

TD Securities reiterated their hold rating on shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. TD Securities currently has a $215.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $213.35.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock opened at $226.09 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $208.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.96. The company has a market capitalization of $26.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.49, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.75. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.39.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.96 by $0.02. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 50.68%. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

Darden Restaurants declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, June 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total transaction of $375,431.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 32.2% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 201 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,688 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $766,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 4,053 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 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.