Darden Restaurants, the renowned full-service restaurant company, seems to be standing firmly in the market with its shares opening at $166.85 on June 16th, 2023. With a 50-day moving average price of $155.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.75, it appears that Darden Restaurants has been able to maintain stability in the stock market despite market fluctuations.
The current ratio of DRI is on the lower side at 0.46, which indicates that the company may face difficulty in covering its short-term liabilities with its short-term assets at this point in time. Additionally, the quick ratio stands at 0.30, illustrating that DRI may have difficulty meeting its current financial obligations with only highly liquid assets.
Furthermore, DRI’s debt-to-equity ratio seems moderate when compared to industry benchmarks, currently standing at 0.43. This represents reasonable leverage for the company’s operations and could help fund future growth initiatives.
The market capitalization of DRI is an impressive $20.18 billion with a P/E ratio of 21.78 and a PEG ratio of 1.90, indicating strong earnings growth potential in comparison to industry averages for similar firms.
Moreover, analysts seem quite optimistic regarding DRI’s performance as evidenced by their recent ratings reports stating “moderate buy” status with a consensus price target of $162.36 from Bloomberg ratings data.
CEO Ricardo Cardenas recently sold 12,735 shares of DRI stock at an average price of $155.02 per share for a total value of approximately $1,974,179.70 on March 28th., which was disclosed legally through SEC filings via their website accessible through legal filing documents and links available on their official website.
Additionally Chairman Eugene I Lee Jr also sold approximately 78,916 shares worth around $12 million on March 28th taking the total insider shares sold in the last 90 days to be 96,611 worth $14.9 million with insiders currently owning only 0.93% of the company stock.
Although DRI’s share price may have seen several ups and downs within a year with its low at $110.96 and high at $168.98, many brokerages believe that it has enough potential to thrive in today’s market over the long term as evident by their recent reports with Stephens upping their price target from $150.00 to $165.00 and Credit Suisse Group also upping their target price from $157 to $165, among others.
In conclusion, despite these recent deviations and fluctuations in stock prices, Darden Restaurants seems to be well-positioned to continue performing well by leveraging its moderate debt-to-equity ratio and optimistically reviewed product offerings, which would work well for prospective investors looking for a stable investment opportunity in the full-service restaurant industry.
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KeyCorp Analyst Predicts Strong Earnings for Darden Restaurants, Inc. in Coming Years
[stock_market_widget type=”chart” template=”basic” color=”#3946CE” assets=”DRI” range=”1mo” interval=”1d” axes=”true” cursor=”true” range_selector=”true” api=”yf”]Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI), one of the largest restaurant operators in the United States, has been the focus of investment analysts recently with KeyCorp providing updated figures regarding their projected EPS for FY2023. According to an analysis note released on June 14th, KeyCorp analyst E. Gonzalez now expects Darden Restaurants to post earnings of $7.97 per share over the course of this year, up from their previous forecast of $7.96.
This figure is notable given that the consensus estimate for Darden Restaurants’ current full-year earnings is $7.94 per share. But even more noteworthy are KeyCorp’s predictions for Darden Restaurant’s forthcoming Q4 earnings: they expect this quarterly report to show earnings at $2.56 EPS while forecasting similarly strong figures in Q1 and Q4 2024 with expected earnings at $1.84 EPS and $2.70 EPS respectively.
While these estimates prove intriguing for investors seeking insight into the trajectory of companies like Darden Restaurants, there are other factors at play as well that must be taken into consideration before making any decisive conclusions or investments based solely on these metrics. For example, it should be noted that Darden Restaurants also issued a quarterly dividend earlier this year that was paid out on May 1st.
The announcement came after stockholders were notified by mail in early April that they would receive a payout of $1.21 per share for owning stock prior to April 10th: a total annualized dividend of approximately $4.84 per share and a dividend yield hovering around 2.90%. The payout ratio currently stands at 63.19%.
Overall, while renewed attention turns toward Darden Restaurants following these updates from KeyCorp, it remains clear that there is much more to discern about these developments before arriving at concrete conclusions – especially considering all of the outside economic factors influencing the company’s fortunes in today’s market. That being said, investors should certainly keep a close eye on these developments as they continue to unfold.
