Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Releases FY25 Earnings Guidance

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) issued an update on its FY25 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $9.40-$9.60 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $9.42. The company issued revenue guidance of $12.1 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $11.97 billion. Darden Restaurants also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.400-9.600 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.46.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 8.8 %

DRI opened at $174.01 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $177.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $165.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.81.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.59%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. The trade was a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.