Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives $223.00 Average PT from Brokerages

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-one brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $223.00.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Barclays reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $214.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.76. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given 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 dividend yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.89%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total transaction of $1,471,173.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares in the company, valued at $9,165,474.24. The trade was a 13.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Midwest Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $2,441,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 42,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,275,000 after acquiring an additional 4,804 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 17,195 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,273,000 after acquiring an additional 7,342 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,816,000. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 754.0% in the 2nd quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 2,246 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $490,000 after acquiring an additional 1,983 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.