Oppenheimer Reiterates Outperform Rating for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by stock analysts at Oppenheimer in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $235.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 9.47% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.56.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI traded up $3.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $214.67. The stock had a trading volume of 575,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,337,333. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.59 billion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $199.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $199.36.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The company had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after buying an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.