Oppenheimer Issues Positive Forecast for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock Price

by · The Cerbat Gem

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) had its price target increased by research analysts at Oppenheimer from $235.00 to $245.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target indicates a potential upside of 15.54% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on DRI. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $228.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.00.

Get Our Latest Report on Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Darden Restaurants stock traded down $6.52 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $212.05. 80,421 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,325,738. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $210.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $204.72. The firm has a market cap of $24.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Susan Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total value of $463,386.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,028.05. This represents a 34.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 in the last 90 days. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 25,118.0% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 35,137,478 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,238,672,000 after buying an additional 34,998,143 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,790,128,000 after acquiring an additional 322,079 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth $2,015,109,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,212,283 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $629,736,000 after acquiring an additional 991,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,918,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $537,001,000 after acquiring an additional 251,246 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

(Get Free Report)

Darden Restaurants, Inc (NYSE: DRI) is a full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It operates and franchises a portfolio of dining brands serving a range of cuisines, price points and occasions, with restaurants primarily located in the United States and select international markets.

Its restaurant portfolio includes Olive Garden, an Italian-American dining chain; LongHorn Steakhouse; Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen; Yard House; The Capital Grille; Seasons 52; Bahama Breeze; Eddie V’s; Ruth’s Chris Steak House; and Chuy’s.

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