Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Updates FY25 Earnings Guidance

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) issued an update on its FY25 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $9.40-$9.60 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.42. The company issued revenue guidance of $12.1 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $11.97 billion. Darden Restaurants also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.400-9.600 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.46.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 8.8 %

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $174.01 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $20.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.07, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $165.70 and its 200 day moving average is $156.81. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $177.67.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.90, for a total transaction of $201,294.90. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10 shares in the company, valued at $1,719. The trade was a 99.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. Company 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.