Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Seaport Research Partners

Research analysts at Seaport Research Partners began coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $240.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Seaport Research Partners’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 14.86% from the company’s previous close.

DRI has been the topic of several other research reports. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Argus boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Evercore lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.00.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 4.4%

NYSE:DRI opened at $208.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $229.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $210.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $204.70.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 11.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Laura Williamson sold 443 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total transaction of $90,766.27. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,536 shares in the company, valued at $1,134,271.04. This trade represents a 7.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DRI. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,790,128,000 after purchasing an additional 322,079 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at $2,015,109,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.6% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,212,283 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $629,736,000 after acquiring an additional 991,230 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,918,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $537,001,000 after acquiring an additional 251,246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,265,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $248,083,000 after purchasing an additional 33,965 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc (NYSE: DRI) is a full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It operates and franchises a portfolio of dining brands serving a range of cuisines, price points and occasions, with restaurants primarily located in the United States and select international markets.

Its restaurant portfolio includes Olive Garden, an Italian-American dining chain; LongHorn Steakhouse; Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen; Yard House; The Capital Grille; Seasons 52; Bahama Breeze; Eddie V’s; Ruth’s Chris Steak House; and Chuy’s.