Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock Price

Key Points

• Bank of America raised its price target on Darden from $261 to $262 and kept a "buy" rating, implying a potential 27.21% upside from the prior close.
• Darden set FY 2026 guidance at $10.500–$10.700 EPS, and analysts have a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $224.63 (20 Buys, 9 Holds).
• Insiders sold 18,770 shares worth about $3.95M over the last three months (including CFO sales), leaving insiders with just 0.49% ownership.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $261.00 to $262.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the restaurant operator's stock. Bank of America's price target indicates a potential upside of 27.21% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Mizuho upgraded Darden Restaurants from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.63.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI traded up $3.59 during trading on Monday, reaching $205.96. 195,999 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,427,167. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.26. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $228.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $207.68 and a 200-day moving average of $194.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The business's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total transaction of $1,450,448.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total transaction of $480,954.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,787,992. The trade was a 11.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970 over the last three months. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 780,978 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $170,203,000 after purchasing an additional 128,468 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 17,786 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $3,877,000 after buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.0% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 621,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $135,556,000 after buying an additional 29,680 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.1% in the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 28,701 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $6,256,000 after buying an additional 1,911 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 6.7% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 20,122 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,386,000 after buying an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

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.

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