Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-nine brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $224.7778.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. Mizuho upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Barclays cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total value of $1,450,448.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total transaction of $546,393.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,761.28. This represents a 39.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last ninety days. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 926.7% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 419.2% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 135 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock opened at $212.28 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.39. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The firm has a market cap of $24.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $193.71.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.89%.

More Darden Restaurants News

Here are the key news stories impacting Darden Restaurants this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Exiting Bahama Breeze lets Darden redeploy capital and management attention to higher-return, core concepts (Olive Garden, LongHorn, etc.), which can improve long-term margins and return on invested capital. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Market reaction suggests investors view the portfolio simplification favorably — the stock is trading up after the announcement as the move is seen as strategic focus rather than a long-term business weakness. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate update: Darden said it has “completed exploration of strategic alternatives” for Bahama Breeze and will proceed with the chosen path; the company framed this as a strategic decision rather than a divestiture sale. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage varies on the scale of closures — some outlets report the chain will be largely shut down, others report roughly half the sites will close; details and timing remain being clarified by Darden. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term financial pain likely: closures typically trigger impairment charges, lease termination costs, severance and one-time restructuring expenses that can reduce near-term earnings and cash flow. Investors should expect any related charges to show up in upcoming filings/earnings commentary. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Operational and reputational risks — site-level closures mean job losses, local disruptions and potential lease or environmental liabilities; these can widen closure costs if exit terms are unfavorable. Read More.

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.