Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Upgraded at Robert W. Baird

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) was upgraded by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $250.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $220.00. Robert W. Baird’s target price points to a potential upside of 12.71% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on DRI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Stephens upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Evercore cut 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.12.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $221.81 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $208.30 and its 200 day moving average is $204.47. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total value of $463,386.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $867,028.05. The trade was a 34.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $1,780,380.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,799,490. This trade represents a 49.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 25,118.0% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 35,137,478 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,238,672,000 after acquiring an additional 34,998,143 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,790,128,000 after purchasing an additional 322,079 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,587,939,000 after purchasing an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,015,109,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,486,434,000 after purchasing an additional 3,613,781 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.