Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Issues FY 2025 Earnings Guidance

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) updated its FY 2025 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 9.400-9.600 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 9.440. The company issued revenue guidance of $12.1 billion-$12.1 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $12.1 billion. Darden Restaurants also updated its FY25 guidance to $9.40-$9.60 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.3 %

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $187.59 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.99. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $188.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,057,743.30. This trade represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,601.36. This trade represents a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% 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.