Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $224.7778.

DRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE DRI opened at $213.51 on Monday. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The company has a market capitalization of $24.58 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $204.26 and a 200 day moving average of $194.77.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total transaction of $480,954.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,787,992. This represents a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total transaction of $546,393.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,761.28. This trade represents a 39.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 926.7% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 419.2% during the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 135 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 109 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.