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

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $224.7778.

DRI has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed 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 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Melius Research raised Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $213.51 on Monday. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $228.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $204.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $24.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 2.05 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 for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of Darden Restaurants 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 owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at $3,787,992. This trade represents a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,486,434,000 after purchasing an additional 3,613,781 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $507,675,000 after buying an additional 1,171,890 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $144,483,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 820.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 706,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $153,977,000 after buying an additional 629,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $113,301,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.