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 earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $9.45-$9.52 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.48. The company issued revenue guidance of $12.1 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $12.09 billion. Darden Restaurants also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.450-9.520 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $203.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the business’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 directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.