Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Issues FY25 Earnings Guidance

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) issued an update on its FY25 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $9.45-$9.52 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS 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 Price Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $192.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $203.47.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Securities lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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.