Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seventeen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $228.8750.

DRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $208.51 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $23.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $220.65. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $203.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $203.08.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly 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. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.43%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at $867,028.05. The trade was a 34.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,134,271.04. This trade represents a 7.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,321 shares of company stock worth $12,790,347. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after buying an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.