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

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) 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 brokerages recently commented on DRI. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $183.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $180.46.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 14.7 %

NYSE:DRI traded up $23.57 on Thursday, reaching $183.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,765,794 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,242,947. The firm has a market cap of $21.55 billion, a PE ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. The business's 50-day moving average price is $166.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.99. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $188.82.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. Darden Restaurants's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is 64.59%.

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 transaction of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. This trade represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.