BTIG Research Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at BTIG Research in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $225.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.76% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on DRI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $232.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $208.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $253.00 to $254.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.39.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $192.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $22.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $198.14. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.01). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 52.35%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total value of $1,094,837.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,916 shares in the company, valued at $2,691,354.40. This represents a 28.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bowman & Co S.C. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 9,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,099,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.2% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 201 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. GAM Holding AG increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAM Holding AG now owns 6,975 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 1,663 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.