Darden Restaurants (DRI) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Darden Restaurants, Inc. is a full-service restaurant company that owns and operates a portfolio of well-known dining brands. Its restaurants serve a range of cuisines and occasions, from Italian and American casual dining to seafood, steak, and upscale experiences.

The company’s portfolio includes Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s, and The Capital Grille. In 2024, Darden expanded its brand portfolio through the acquisition of Chuy’s, a full-service Mexican restaurant concept.

Founded by William B. Darden in 1968, the company has grown into one of the largest operators of full-service restaurants in the United States. Darden’s restaurants primarily serve customers across the U.S., with select international locations, and the company supports its brands through restaurant operations, menu development, supply-chain management, and hospitality services.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $196.60 to $198.99
• 50-Day Range: $193.72 to $228.17
• 52-Week Range: $169.00 to $229.76
• Volume: 858,865 shs
• Average Volume: 1.38 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $22.34 billion
• P/E Ratio: 19.30
• Dividend Yield: 3.28%
• Price Target: $232.48
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Darden Restaurants Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Darden Restaurants scored higher than 85% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 146th out of 484 stocks in the consumer discretionary sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.7 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Darden Restaurants has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.65, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 17 buy ratings, 9 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Darden Restaurants has a consensus price target of $232.48, representing about 17.7% upside from its current price of $197.44.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Darden Restaurants has been the subject of 14 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 10.59%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Darden Restaurants are expected to grow by 10.59% in the coming year, from $11.24 to $12.43 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Darden Restaurants is 19.30, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 41.67.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Darden Restaurants is 19.30, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Discretionary sector average P/E ratio of about 42.50.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Darden Restaurants has a PEG Ratio of 1.85. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Darden Restaurants has a P/B Ratio of 10.20. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 1.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

6.01% of the float of Darden Restaurants has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Darden Restaurants has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.44.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Darden Restaurants has recently increased by 10.36%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Darden Restaurants pays a meaningful dividend of 3.28%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Darden Restaurants has only been increasing its dividend for 4 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Darden Restaurants is 63.34%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Darden Restaurants will have a dividend payout ratio of 52.13% next year. This indicates that Darden Restaurants will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.4 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.47

News Sentiment

Darden Restaurants has a news sentiment score of 0.47. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Consumer Discretionary companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 19 news articles for Darden Restaurants this week, compared to 8 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

44 people have searched for DRI on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 91% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

6 people have added Darden Restaurants to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 20% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Darden Restaurants insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $12,589,319.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.67% of the stock of Darden Restaurants is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

93.64% of the stock of Darden Restaurants is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 8/3 Dividend: 7/10/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 8/3 Dividend: 7/10/2026
• Dividend Payable: 8/03/2026
• Last Earnings: 9/24/2026
• Record date for 11/2 Dividend: 10/09/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 11/2 Dividend: 10/09/2026
• Today: 10/11/2026
• Dividend Payable: 11/02/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 12/17/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 5/31/2027

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Consumer Discretionary
• Industry: Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure
• Sub-Industry: Restaurants
• Current Symbol: NYSE:DRI
• CIK: 940944
• Web: www.darden.com
• Phone: (407) 245-4000
• Fax: 407-245-4989
• Employees: 209,931
• Year Founded: 1968

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Darden Restaurants: $232.48
• High Price Target: $276.00
• Low Price Target: $200.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +17.7%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.65
• Research Coverage: 26 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $10.23
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 19.30
• Forward P/E Ratio: 17.57
• P/E Growth: 1.85
• Net Income: $1.21 billion
• Net Margins: 8.85%
• Pretax Margin: 10.20%
• Return on Equity: 58.64%
• Return on Assets: 9.56%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.79
• Current Ratio: 0.30
• Quick Ratio: 0.20

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $13.21 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.69
• Cash Flow: $15.75 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 12.54
• Book Value: $19.35 per share
• Price / Book: 10.20

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 113,140,000
• Free Float: 112,385,000
• Market Cap: $22.34 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.63