Darden Restaurants (DRI) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Founded by Bill Darden in 1968, Darden Restaurants traces its origins to the opening of its first dining establishment in Orlando, Florida. Originally part of General Mills’s restaurant group, the company launched as an independent, publicly traded enterprise in 1995 under the Darden Restaurants banner. Over the decades, Darden has grown into one of North America’s largest full-service restaurant operators, leveraging a portfolio of recognized brands and a multi‐channel guest engagement model.

Darden’s restaurant portfolio spans a variety of dining concepts, including casual Italian at Olive Garden, premium steak experiences at LongHorn Steakhouse and The Capital Grille, seafood dining at Eddie V’s Prime Seafood and Bahama Breeze, and contemporary American fare at Seasons 52, Yard House and Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen. Each concept emphasizes fresh ingredients, signature recipes and a hospitable atmosphere designed to appeal to a broad consumer base.

The company supports its brands through a combination of company‐owned restaurants and franchising partnerships, operating more than 1,800 locations across the United States and Canada. Darden has also invested in omnichannel capabilities, offering dine‐in, takeout, delivery and catering services, supported by digital ordering platforms and loyalty programs aimed at enhancing customer convenience and engagement.

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Darden Restaurants is led by Chief Executive Officer Rick Cardenas, who succeeded Gene Lee. The organization’s leadership team continues to focus on operational excellence, menu innovation and disciplined growth in existing and new markets.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $187.56 to $191.50
• 50-Day Range: $181.12 to $213.42
• 52-Week Range: $157.89 to $228.27
• Volume: 1.03 million shs
• Average Volume: 1.21 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $21.85 billion
• P/E Ratio: 20.14
• Dividend Yield: 3.19%
• Price Target: $227.15
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Darden Restaurants Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Darden Restaurants scored higher than 99% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 2nd out of 215 stocks in the retail/wholesale sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Darden Restaurants has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.69, and is based on 20 buy ratings, 9 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Darden Restaurants has a consensus price target of $227.15, representing about 20.9% upside from its current price of $187.90.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Darden Restaurants has been the subject of 19 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 11.76%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Darden Restaurants are expected to grow by 11.76% in the coming year, from $9.52 to $10.64 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Darden Restaurants is 20.14, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 43.65.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Darden Restaurants is 20.14, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Retail/Wholesale sector average P/E ratio of about 18.75.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Darden Restaurants has a PEG Ratio of 1.72. 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 9.51. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.25% 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 3.1, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Darden Restaurants has recently decreased by 15.85%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Darden Restaurants pays a meaningful dividend of 3.19%, 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 64.31%. 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 56.39% next year. This indicates that Darden Restaurants will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• Environmental Score: -3.04

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.25% 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 3.1, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Darden Restaurants has recently decreased by 15.85%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.7 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.64

News Sentiment

Darden Restaurants has a news sentiment score of 1.64. 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 is a higher news sentiment than the 0.64 average news sentiment score of Retail/Wholesale companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 23 news articles for Darden Restaurants this week, compared to 25 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

30 people have searched for DRI on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 88% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

9 people have added Darden Restaurants to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 50% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 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 $1,507,575.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.49% 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.

DRI Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have DRI shares performed this year?

Darden Restaurants' stock was trading at $186.69 at the start of the year. Since then, DRI shares have increased by 0.6% and is now trading at $187.90.

How were Darden Restaurants' earnings last quarter?

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September, 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.04. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the conference call transcript.

How will Darden Restaurants' stock buyback program work?

Darden Restaurants' Board of Directors initiated a stock buyback plan on Friday, June 20th 2025, which permits the company to repurchase $1,000,000,000 in shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could reacquire up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Does Darden Restaurants have any subsidiaries?

Darden Restaurants subsidiaries include Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, Rare Hospitality Management, Bahama Breeze Holdings, Capital Grille Holdings, Cheddar’s Casual Café, Cheddar's Restaurant Holding Corp., and others.

Who are Darden Restaurants' major shareholders?

Top institutional shareholders of Darden Restaurants include Burney Co. (0.10%), Assenagon Asset Management S.A. (0.08%), Flputnam Investment Management Co. (0.07%) and Swedbank AB (0.07%). Insiders that own company stock include Ricardo Cardenas, Todd Burrowes, Richard L Renninger, Daniel J Kiernan, Matthew R Broad, Melvin John Martin, Laura B Williamson, John W Madonna, William S Simon, Susan M Connelly, Rajesh Vennam, Sarah H King, Douglas J Milanes and Nana Mensah.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Darden Restaurants?

Shares of DRI stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Darden Restaurants own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Darden Restaurants investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Salesforce (CRM), Broadcom (AVGO), Humana (HUM), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and AbbVie (ABBV).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 8/1 Dividend: 7/10/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 8/1 Dividend: 7/10/2025
• Dividend Payable: 8/01/2025
• Last Earnings: 9/18/2025
• Record date for 11/3 Dividend: 10/10/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 11/3 Dividend: 10/10/2025
• Today: 10/20/2025
• Dividend Payable: 11/03/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 12/18/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 5/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Retail/Wholesale
• Industry: RETAIL - RESTRNTS
• Sub-Industry: Restaurants
• Current Symbol: NYSE:DRI
• CIK: 940944
• Web: www.darden.com
• Phone: (407) 245-4000
• Fax: 407-245-4989
• Employees: 197,924
• Year Founded: 1968

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Darden Restaurants: $227.15
• High Price Target: $254.00
• Low Price Target: $200.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +20.4%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.69
• Research Coverage: 29 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $9.33
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 20.20
• Forward P/E Ratio: 19.82
• P/E Growth: 1.72
• Net Income: $1.05 billion
• Net Margins: 8.90%
• Pretax Margin: 10.10%
• Return on Equity: 52.35%
• Return on Assets: 9.15%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.96
• Current Ratio: 0.40
• Quick Ratio: 0.27

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $12.08 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.82
• Cash Flow: $14.11 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 13.38
• Book Value: $19.75 per share
• Price / Book: 9.56

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 116,310,000
• Free Float: 115,744,000
• Market Cap: $21.95 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.77