Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Rating Reiterated by Raymond James Financial, Inc.

Raymond James Financial, Inc. restated their market perform rating on shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in a research note published on Monday, July 24th.

DRI has been the subject of several other research reports. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, June 23rd. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $90.00 target price (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 19th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $84.78.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) traded up 1.30% on Monday, hitting $83.15. 1,238,064 shares of the stock traded hands. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.43 billion, a PE ratio of 21.86 and a beta of 0.27. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $59.93 and a 52 week high of $95.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $88.91 and a 200 day moving average of $82.82.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 27th. The restaurant operator reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 6.68% and a return on equity of 26.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post $4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

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The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 6th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 66.14%.

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Eugene I. Lee, Jr. sold 93,125 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.58, for a total transaction of $8,528,387.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 165,062 shares in the company, valued at $15,116,377.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,211,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,189,048,000 after buying an additional 487,366 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 4,601.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,464,253 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $959,215,000 after buying an additional 11,220,403 shares during the period. American International Group Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.3% in the first quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 6,198,698 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $518,645,000 after buying an additional 77,248 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.0% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,734,166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $312,519,000 after buying an additional 110,515 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 38.3% in the first quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,229,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $270,196,000 after buying an additional 894,403 shares during the period. 95.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a full-service restaurant company. The Company owned and operated 1,536 restaurants through its subsidiaries in the United States and Canada, as of May 29, 2016. The Company’s segments include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Fine Dining (which includes The Capital Grille, and Eddie V’s Prime Seafood and Wildfish Seafood Grille (Eddie V’s)) and Other Business (which includes Yard House, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, consumer-packaged goods and franchise revenues).