Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Issues Earnings Results

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

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $170.17 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $150.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.52. The company has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $133.36 and a twelve month high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on DRI. Truist Financial increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday. Argus lowered their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.28.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the sale, 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. Company insiders own 0.85% 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.