Darden Restaurants - DRI Stock Forecast, Price & News

23 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Darden Restaurants in the last twelve months. There are currently 5 hold ratings and 18 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "buy" DRI shares.
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23 brokerages have issued 12 month price targets for Darden Restaurants' shares. Their DRI share price forecasts range from $129.00 to $168.00. On average, they expect the company's stock price to reach $152.04 in the next twelve months. This suggests a possible upside of 2.5% from the stock's current price.
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Darden Restaurants' stock was trading at $138.33 at the beginning of the year. Since then, DRI shares have increased by 7.3% and is now trading at $148.37.
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Darden Restaurants saw a increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,150,000 shares, an increase of 13.7% from the December 31st total of 2,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Approximately 2.6% of the company's shares are short sold.
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The company is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, March 23rd 2023.
View our DRI earnings forecast.

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, December, 16th. The restaurant operator reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.11. The restaurant operator earned $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.43 billion. Darden Restaurants had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 42.51% and a net margin of 9.10%.

Darden Restaurants announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.21 per share on Wednesday, February 1st. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 9th.
Read our dividend analysis for DRI.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) pays an annual dividend of $4.84 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 3.26%. The company has been increasing its dividend for 2 consecutive year(s), indicating that it does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio is 66.76%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, DRI will have a dividend payout ratio of 56.28% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.
Read our dividend analysis for DRI.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, June 23rd 2022, which permits the company to buyback $1,000,000,000.00 in outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 6.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants updated its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Friday, December, 16th. The company provided EPS guidance of $7.60-$8.00 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.71. The company issued revenue guidance of $10.30 billion-$10.45 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $10.31 billion.

333 employees have rated Darden Restaurants Chief Executive Officer Gene Lee on Glassdoor.com. Gene Lee has an approval rating of 88% among the company's employees.

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some companies that other Darden Restaurants investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Boeing (BA), Walt Disney (DIS), Home Depot (HD), Intel (INTC), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Micron Technology (MU), PayPal (PYPL), Alibaba Group (BABA) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM).

Darden Restaurants trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "DRI."

Darden Restaurants' stock is owned by a number of institutional and retail investors. Top institutional investors include Congress Asset Management Co. MA (0.52%), Natixis Advisors L.P. (0.37%), Ardevora Asset Management LLP (0.16%), AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc (0.15%), New York State Teachers Retirement System (0.13%) and Strs Ohio (0.10%). Insiders that own company stock include Daniel J Kiernan, David C George, Douglas J Milanes, Douglas J Milanes, Eugene I Lee Jr, Eugene I Lee, Jr, John W Madonna, Juliana L Chugg, M Shan Atkins, Matthew R Broad, Melvin John Martin, Nana Mensah, Ricardo Cardenas, Richard L Renninger, Sarah H King, Susan M Connelly, Timothy J Wilmott, Todd Burrowes and William S Simon.
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Shares of DRI stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include WeBull, Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.
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One share of DRI stock can currently be purchased for approximately $148.37.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) has a market capitalization of $18.06 billion and generates $9.63 billion in revenue each year. The restaurant operator earns $952.80 million in net income (profit) each year or $7.25 on an earnings per share basis.

The company employs 178,956 workers across the globe.

Darden Restaurants' mailing address is 1000 DARDEN CENTER DRIVE, ORLANDO FL, 32837. The official website for the company is www.darden.com. The restaurant operator can be reached via phone at (407) 245-4000, via email at irinfo@darden.com, or via fax at 407-245-4989.