Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $177.46 and last traded at $176.92, with a volume of 578416 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $167.69.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. BTIG Research raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 4.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.23. The stock has a market cap of $20.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 824.5% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,741 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,687,000 after acquiring an additional 36,334 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,081,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.1% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,901,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the third quarter valued at approximately $326,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.6% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,133 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.