Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Robert W. Baird

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

DRI has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings lowered Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.12.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:DRI opened at $221.81 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $208.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $204.47. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $229.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares in the company, valued at $18,009,682.76. This trade represents a 31.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $1,780,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares in the company, valued at $1,799,490. This represents a 49.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 25,118.0% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 35,137,478 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,238,672,000 after buying an additional 34,998,143 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,015,109,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 81.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,486,434,000 after acquiring an additional 3,613,781 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $651,813,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $204,099,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently 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.