Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC cut its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 60.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,119 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $507,675,000 after buying an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 820.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 706,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $153,977,000 after acquiring an additional 629,669 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 45.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,917,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $417,935,000 after acquiring an additional 596,863 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 192.6% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 880,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $191,980,000 after acquiring an additional 579,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $125,521,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:DRI opened at $203.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $23.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $207.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.89%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total transaction of $480,954.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,787,992. This represents a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total transaction of $546,393.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,761.28. The trade was a 39.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $234.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Mizuho upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $235.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.33.

Darden Restaurants Profile

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.