Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given “Outperform” Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $183.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price points to a potential upside of 22.74% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on DRI. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $152.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Darden Restaurants from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $178.00 in a report on Friday, June 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $173.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, July 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $167.00 target price on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.22.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $149.10 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $160.42 and a 200 day moving average of $157.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.24. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $120.20 and a 1 year high of $173.06.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 22nd. The restaurant operator reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.04. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 47.22% and a net margin of 9.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.24 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Daniel J. Kiernan sold 12,639 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.09, for a total value of $2,086,572.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,043 shares in the company, valued at $2,648,538.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Daniel J. Kiernan sold 12,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.09, for a total value of $2,086,572.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,043 shares in the company, valued at $2,648,538.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Eugene I. Lee, Jr. sold 74,741 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.90, for a total value of $12,474,272.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 157,957 shares in the company, valued at $26,363,023.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 260,775 shares of company stock worth $43,532,251 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 23.4% in the second quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,433,094 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,745,578,000 after acquiring an additional 3,116,792 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,373,923 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,911,012,000 after purchasing an additional 362,658 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,899,291 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,380,814,000 after purchasing an additional 455,588 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,584,673 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $933,087,000 after purchasing an additional 25,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 97,811.1% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 3,105,740 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $518,907,000 after buying an additional 3,102,568 shares during the last quarter. 94.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc, through 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 brands.