Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Stephens

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by equities researchers at Stephens in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $205.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 6.38% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on DRI. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 20th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.39.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $192.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27. The company has a market capitalization of $22.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $180.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.14.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.35% and a net margin of 8.90%.The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total transaction of $1,094,837.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,691,354.40. The trade was a 28.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth $901,000. Korea Investment CORP boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 10.4% during the first quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 68,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,129,000 after acquiring an additional 6,420 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 28.0% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 320,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $66,439,000 after acquiring an additional 70,035 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 24.0% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 10,514 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,184,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 2,913 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.