Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Issues FY25 Earnings Guidance

by · The Markets Daily

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) issued an update on its FY25 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $9.40-$9.60 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share 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.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of DRI opened at $187.59 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.99. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $188.88. 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 stock 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.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.60.

Read Our Latest Research Report on Darden Restaurants

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $659,601.36. The trade was a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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