Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Issues FY 2025 Earnings Guidance

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) issued an update on its FY 2025 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 9.450-9.520 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 9.480. The company issued revenue guidance of $12.1 billion-$12.1 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $12.1 billion. Darden Restaurants also updated its FY25 guidance to $9.45-$9.52 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.33.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $188.11 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $203.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $191.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.15. The company has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.