Brokerages Set Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Price Target at $224.78

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $224.8889.

Several research firms have commented on DRI. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $234.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 15th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of the company’s 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 owned 9,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,935,644.80. This represents a 42.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total value of $480,954.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at $3,787,992. This represents a 11.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last 90 days. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Union Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 424,673 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $78,274,000 after acquiring an additional 14,156 shares in the last quarter. Bayban acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $128,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,039 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $377,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, SHP Wealth Management purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI traded down $8.05 during trading on Monday, reaching $195.13. 218,204 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,432,253. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.76. The stock has a market cap of $22.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.45, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61. 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 earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.89%.

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.