Analysts Set Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) PT at $228.88

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $230.1250.

DRI has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $220.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE:DRI opened at $218.95 on Monday. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $229.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $209.01 and its 200 day moving average is $204.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares in the company, valued at $18,009,682.76. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total value of $463,386.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $867,028.05. The trade was a 34.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 25,118.0% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 35,137,478 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,238,672,000 after acquiring an additional 34,998,143 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,311 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,172 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Chico Wealth RIA purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $204,000. Finally, AlphaGrep UK Ltd bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $295,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Darden Restaurants

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.