Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given Hold Rating at Truist Financial

Truist Financial reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Truist Financial currently has a $207.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their prior target price of $240.00.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on DRI. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.00.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $202.64 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50-day moving average is $181.71 and its 200 day moving average is $195.12. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bowman & Co S.C. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% in the 2nd 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 boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAM Holding AG now owns 6,975 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 1,663 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 7,177 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.