Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $220.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price increased by Wedbush from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Darden Restaurants’ Q4 2025 earnings at $2.99 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.28 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.03 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $3.32 EPS.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $187.59 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $188.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50 day moving average is $166.87 and its 200 day moving average is $157.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $334,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,562 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,602,433.26. This represents a 11.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total transaction of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,155 shares in the company, valued at $1,005,911.65. This trade represents a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,320 shares of company stock worth $1,366,948 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,944,000 after acquiring an additional 8,480 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth about $777,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $459,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,497 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after purchasing an additional 8,851,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 523.9% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 194,937 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,995,000 after buying an additional 163,693 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Darden Restaurants

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.