Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock Rating Lowered by Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has $180.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their previous target price of $190.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Bank of America lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. TD Cowen restated a hold rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.2 %

DRI opened at $170.17 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.19. The firm has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 65.73%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DRI. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $252,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $58,601,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 62.6% in the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 2,255 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,874 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,117 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.