Patton Fund Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Patton Fund Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 86.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,423 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 8,775 shares during the quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 820.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 706,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $153,977,000 after purchasing an additional 629,669 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 45.2% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,917,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $417,935,000 after purchasing an additional 596,863 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted 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 buying an additional 579,759 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $125,521,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 239.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 722,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $157,490,000 after acquiring an additional 509,655 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on DRI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.75.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $189.36 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.02 billion, a PE ratio of 19.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.66. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two 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.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.89%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total transaction of $1,094,837.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,691,354.40. This trade represents a 28.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.