Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $245.00 Price Target at Argus

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target increased by research analysts at Argus from $240.00 to $245.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Argus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 18.74% from the stock’s previous close.

DRI has been the subject of several other research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.32.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $206.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $222.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $202.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $201.34.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,486,434,000 after buying an additional 3,613,781 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,890 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,212,283 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $629,736,000 after acquiring an additional 991,230 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $144,483,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $113,301,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.