Wedbush Analysts Reduce Earnings Estimates for Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) – Investment analysts at Wedbush cut their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note issued on Thursday, June 20th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now anticipates that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $1.69 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.80. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Darden Restaurants’ current full-year earnings is $9.50 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Darden Restaurants’ Q2 2025 earnings at $1.93 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.78 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.87 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.11 EPS and Q3 2026 earnings at $3.02 EPS.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on DRI. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $191.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.24.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $153.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.53. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $133.36 and a 52-week high of $176.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.29.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,789 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $17,202,000. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 18,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,973,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 39.7% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 30,344 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,986,000 after buying an additional 8,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 968,029 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $159,047,000 after buying an additional 65,223 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares in the company, valued at $993,717.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 61.50%.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.