Portfolio Design Labs LLC Invests $816,000 in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Posted by Brian Himes on Aug 21st, 2026

Portfolio Design Labs LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI – Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,962 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $816,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,790,128,000 after purchasing an additional 322,079 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after purchasing an additional 43,965 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,015,109,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,486,434,000 after purchasing an additional 3,613,781 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $771,020,000 after purchasing an additional 68,245 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $217.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $229.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.43%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $1,780,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,799,490. This trade represents a 49.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total transaction of $90,766.27. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,536 shares in the company, valued at $1,134,271.04. The trade was a 7.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.88.

Get Our Latest Report on DRI

Darden Restaurants Profile

(Free Report)

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.