Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Rating) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Guggenheim started coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, March 23rd. Stephens increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $160.23.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $161.03 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $152.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $19.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.23. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $110.96 and a 1 year high of $163.42.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 45.62% and a net margin of 9.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 7.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 2,229 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $345,495.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,330 shares in the company, valued at $826,150. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Darden Restaurants news, Chairman Eugene I. Lee, Jr. sold 78,916 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total transaction of $12,147,539.88. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 199,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,763,834.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 2,229 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $345,495.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,330 shares in the company, valued at $826,150. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 96,611 shares of company stock worth $14,887,160. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,373,923 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,911,012,000 after buying an additional 362,658 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,899,291 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,380,814,000 after purchasing an additional 455,588 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,757,686 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $727,311,000 after purchasing an additional 763,728 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.2% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,561,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $396,532,000 after purchasing an additional 54,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 274.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,428,528 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $376,810,000 after purchasing an additional 1,779,574 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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Darden Restaurants, Inc is a full-service restaurant company, which engages in the provision of restaurant services. It operates through the following segments: Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Fine Dining, and Other Business. The Olive Garden segment is the largest full-service dining Italian restaurant operator.