Q4 EPS Estimates for Darden Restaurants Lifted by Wedbush

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) – Investment analysts at Wedbush lifted their Q4 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Darden Restaurants in a report released 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 previous estimate 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on DRI. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $187.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $166.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.30. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $188.88. The firm has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after purchasing an additional 8,851,795 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $772,635,000 after buying an additional 26,601 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580,322 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $587,638,000 after buying an additional 123,900 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $459,216,000 after buying an additional 17,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,352,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $386,133,000 after acquiring an additional 44,464 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,005,911.65. This represents a 35.04 % 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 this hyperlink. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,000 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,562 shares in the company, valued at $2,602,433.26. The trade was a 11.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,320 shares of company stock worth $1,366,948. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.