Q4 EPS Estimates for Darden Restaurants Lifted by Wedbush

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) – Equities research analysts at Wedbush lifted their Q4 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report issued on Friday, December 20th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now anticipates that the restaurant operator will post earnings per share of $2.99 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $2.90. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $220.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Darden Restaurants’ current full-year earnings is $9.47 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Darden Restaurants’ Q2 2026 earnings at $2.28 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.03 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $3.32 EPS.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI raised Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.44.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $186.65 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $21.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $188.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $167.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.86.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 395.0% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total transaction of $542,587.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,005,911.65. This trade represents a 35.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $334,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,602,433.26. This represents a 11.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,320 shares of company stock worth $1,366,948 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 64.15%.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.