JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 78.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,171,890 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $507,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $849,726,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,211 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 820.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 706,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $153,977,000 after purchasing an additional 629,669 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 45.2% in the 2nd 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 period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 192.6% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 880,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $191,980,000 after purchasing an additional 579,759 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $125,521,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.3%

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $203.91 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $23.48 billion, a PE ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.58.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were paid a $1.50 dividend. 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 (DPR) is 62.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim dropped their price target 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. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $207.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total transaction of $1,471,173.36. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,165,474.24. This trade represents a 13.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total value of $1,450,448.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,040 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,644.80. This trade represents a 42.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.