Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Releases 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 9.440. 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.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $183.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $166.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.99. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $188.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at $10,075,040.80. The trade was a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. Corporate 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.