Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $237.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price lifted by KeyCorp from $228.00 to $237.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.50.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI stock opened at $215.77 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $209.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.75. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $229.76. The company has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter 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 11.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 62.43%.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,799,490. The trade was a 49.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Union Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by 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.