Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $237.00 Price Target at KeyCorp

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price raised by equities researchers at KeyCorp from $228.00 to $237.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. KeyCorp’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 8.24% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on DRI. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Evercore downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.50.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $218.95 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $229.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $209.01 and a 200 day moving average of $204.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.09, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The company’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at $3,915,354.02. The trade was a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $1,780,380.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,799,490. The trade was a 49.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.8% in the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Glenview Trust co raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% in the second quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 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.