Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 364,998 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 12,584 shares during the period. Darden Restaurants makes up about 3.3% of Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $69,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,055,185 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,063,609,000 after purchasing an additional 284,814 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,916,944 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,071,746,000 after buying an additional 100,270 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,073,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $887,988,000 after buying an additional 75,701 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,134,246 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $680,418,000 after buying an additional 175,811 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,890 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on DRI. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $232.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.78.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE DRI traded up $2.38 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $215.36. 48,032 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,523,453. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $24.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $201.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.50. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $228.27.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders 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 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total transaction of $480,954.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,787,992. The trade was a 11.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total value 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.