Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $195.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective upped by Mizuho from $185.00 to $195.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on DRI. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $208.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $232.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.75.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $189.91 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $180.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $197.24. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 62.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total value of $1,094,837.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,691,354.40. This represents a 28.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $849,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,211 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 820.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 706,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $153,977,000 after purchasing an additional 629,669 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 45.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,917,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $417,935,000 after purchasing an additional 596,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 192.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 880,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $191,980,000 after purchasing an additional 579,759 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.