Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.08 EPS

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. Darden Restaurants updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.400-9.600 EPS and its FY25 guidance to $9.40-9.60 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.2 %

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $170.17 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $133.36 and a 1 year high of $176.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $150.34 and its 200-day moving average is $153.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 65.73%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DRI shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $154.00 to $124.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.28.

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.