Darden Restaurants’ (DRI) Equal Weight Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $205.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

DRI has been the subject of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Melius Research upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.33.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $198.54 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.81, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $207.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.26.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. The company’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. As a group, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 62.89%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total value of $546,393.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,761.28. This represents a 39.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total value of $480,954.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,787,992. This represents a 11.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $402,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 19,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,356,000 after purchasing an additional 2,236 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,804 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $829,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,011,000. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 780,978 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $170,203,000 after buying an additional 128,468 shares in the last quarter. 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.