Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Posts Earnings Results, Meets Estimates

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03, RTT News reports. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.400-9.600 EPS and its FY25 guidance to $9.40-$9.60 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $187.59 on Friday. 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 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $188.88. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price (up from $182.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.60.

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.