Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $235.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Citigroup from $234.00 to $235.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.97% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Barclays cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.89.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI traded up $2.78 during trading on Thursday, reaching $206.19. The stock had a trading volume of 891,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,443,346. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $205.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.87. The stock has a market cap of $23.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares in the company, valued at $9,165,474.24. This represents a 13.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 directly owned 9,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last ninety days. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,790,128,000 after purchasing an additional 322,079 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,587,939,000 after acquiring an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in 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 valued at $1,486,434,000 after acquiring an additional 3,613,781 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,916,944 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,071,746,000 after acquiring an additional 100,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $771,020,000 after purchasing an additional 68,245 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.