Darden Restaurants - DRI Stock Forecast, Price & News

Darden Restaurants, Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. As of May 29, 2022, it owned and operated 1,867 restaurants, which included 884 under the Olive Garden brand, 546 under the LongHorn Steakhouse brand name, 172 under the Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen brand, 85 under the Yard House brand name, 62 under The Capital Grille brand, 45 under the Seasons 52 brand name, 42 under the Bahama Breeze brand, 28 under the Eddie V's Prime Seafood brand name, and 3 under the Capital Burger brand; and franchised 60 restaurants comprising 35 under the Olive Garden brand, 18 under the LongHorn Steakhouse brand name, 4 under the Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen brand, 2 under The Capital Grille brand name, and 1 under the Bahama Breeze brand.Darden Restaurants, Inc. was founded in 1968 and is based in Orlando, Florida.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, June 24th. They set a "hold" rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $146.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 21st. Truist Financial cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $136.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 24th. Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $140.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $172.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Friday, June 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $141.65.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock traded down $3.56 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $128.81. 9,609 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,063,606. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $110.96 and a one year high of $164.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $120.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $127.78.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 39.05% and a net margin of 9.89%. The company had revenue of $2.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 8th were issued a $1.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 7th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.41%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, Chairman Eugene I. Lee, Jr. sold 41,442 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.71, for a total value of $5,168,231.82. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 222,480 shares in the company, valued at $27,745,480.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Eugene I. Lee, Jr. sold 41,442 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.71, for a total value of $5,168,231.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 222,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,745,480.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Nana Mensah sold 567 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.03, for a total value of $66,356.01. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,170.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.