Darden Restaurants
About: Darden Restaurants is the largest restaurant operator in the US full-service space, with consolidated revenue of $11.4 billion in fiscal 2024 resulting in 3%-4% full-service market share (per NRA data and our calculations). The company maintains a portfolio of 11 restaurant brands: Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Ruth's Chris, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Eddie V's, Bahama Breeze, The Capital Burger, and most recently, Chuy's. Darden generates revenue almost exclusively from company-owned restaurants, though a small network of franchised restaurants and consumer-packaged goods sales through the traditional grocery channel contribute modestly. As of the end of its fiscal 2024, the company operated 2,031 restaurants in the US.
Employees: 187,384
Fund manager confidence
Based on 2024 Q4 regulatory disclosures by fund managers ($100M+ AUM)
200% more funds holding in top 10
Funds holding in top 10: 2 [Q3] → 6 (+4) [Q4]
86% more first-time investments, than exits
New positions opened: 151 | Existing positions closed: 81
14% more capital invested
Capital invested by funds: $18.3B [Q3] → $20.9B (+$2.62B) [Q4]
6% more funds holding
Funds holding: 872 [Q3] → 928 (+56) [Q4]
0.22% more ownership
Funds ownership: 95.01% [Q3] → 95.22% (+0.22%) [Q4]
11% less repeat investments, than reductions
Existing positions increased: 289 | Existing positions reduced: 325
21% less call options, than puts
Call options by funds: $402M | Put options by funds: $509M
Research analyst outlook
16 Wall Street Analysts provided 1 year price targets over the past 3 months
16 analyst ratings
Baird David Tarantino 55% 1-year accuracy 17 / 31 met price target | 4%downside $192 | Neutral Maintained | 7 Apr 2025 |
Guggenheim Greg Francfort 0% 1-year accuracy 0 / 1 met price target | 10%upside $220 | Buy Maintained | 24 Mar 2025 |
Wells Fargo Zachary Fadem 42% 1-year accuracy 15 / 36 met price target | 0%downside $200 | Equal-Weight Maintained | 21 Mar 2025 |
Citigroup Jon Tower 45% 1-year accuracy 15 / 33 met price target | 14%upside $229 | Buy Maintained | 21 Mar 2025 |
Barclays Jeffrey Bernstein 49% 1-year accuracy 56 / 115 met price target | 17%upside $235 | Overweight Maintained | 21 Mar 2025 |
Financial journalist opinion









