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Following Tuesday's poor guidance for Darden Restaurants, Inc. ( DRI ), analysts at Jefferies downgraded the company on Wednesday as well as lowered its valuation.

The analysts downgraded DRI from "Buy" to "Hold" with a new price target of $47, down from $61. The new price target is a a -1% difference from Tuesday's closing price of $47.40.

Jefferies commented, "With DRI preannouncing a disappointing F2Q miss & once again lowering guidance into the qtr, we are downgrading the stock from Buy to Hold. Valuation is reasonable & we like the Yardhouse acq, but sales have stagnated despite multiple efforts to reinvigorate traffic. We cut our F13/14 EPS to $3.35/3.82, PT to $47 and rating to Hold as we await better visibility on the top line."

Darden Restaurants shares were down 39 cents, or -0.82%, in premarket trading on Wednesday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Darden Restaurants ( DRI ) have a 4.22% dividend yield, based on last night's closing stock price of $47.40. The stock has technical support in the $44-$46 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $50-$52 price levels.

Darden Restaurants, Inc. ( DRI ) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .

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