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 9.400-9.600 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 9.500. The company issued revenue guidance of $11.8 billion-$11.9 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $11.8 billion. Darden Restaurants also updated its FY25 guidance to $9.40-9.60 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on DRI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a hold rating to an underperform rating and cut their price target for the company from $154.00 to $124.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Argus cut their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $170.17 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $150.90 and a 200-day moving average of $153.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly 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 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.