Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $262.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective increased by Bank of America from $261.00 to $262.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on DRI. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.63.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.2%

NYSE:DRI opened at $206.92 on Monday. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $207.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.69, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.89%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,040 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,644.80. This represents a 42.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total transaction of $1,471,173.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,165,474.24. This represents a 13.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 19.7% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 780,978 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $170,203,000 after purchasing an additional 128,468 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.1% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 17,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,877,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.0% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 621,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $135,556,000 after buying an additional 29,680 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.1% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 28,701 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,256,000 after buying an additional 1,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 6.7% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 20,122 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,386,000 after buying an additional 1,270 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.