Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $235.00 Price Target at Guggenheim

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target increased by Guggenheim from $230.00 to $235.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Guggenheim’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 9.60% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.46.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $214.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $24.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $200.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $200.38. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $222.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth $271,000. DV Trading LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 140.6% in the first quarter. DV Trading LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 59,432 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,651,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.5% during the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 9,923 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,945,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.