Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Upgraded at Robert W. Baird

Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $250.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their previous price target of $220.00.

DRI has been the subject of several other reports. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Stephens lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.12.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.7%

DRI stock opened at $218.95 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $24.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $204.71. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $229.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.32, for a total value of $226,795.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,197,257.28. The trade was a 9.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.8% during the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the second quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.