Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives $224.78 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $224.7778.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total value of $546,393.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at $849,761.28. This trade represents a 39.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total value of $1,450,448.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,644.80. This represents a 42.84% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 146,615 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,980,000 after buying an additional 30,981 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,317 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. McMillan Office Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $1,818,000. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 137,655 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,331,000 after buying an additional 22,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 98,266 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,083,000 after purchasing an additional 5,181 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI traded up $2.42 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $215.21. 208,669 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,592,961. The company has a market cap of $24.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $196.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $193.98. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week 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.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. 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 was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.89%.

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.