Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Announces Earnings Results

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08), Briefing.com reports. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% 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 Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $170.17 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $133.36 and a 1-year high of $176.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.52. The firm has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.24.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 65.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.