Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Issues Earnings Results, Meets Estimates

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) released its earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. Darden Restaurants updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.450-9.520 EPS and its FY25 guidance to $9.45-$9.52 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $198.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $23.27 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.67 and a 200-day moving average of $176.31. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $203.47.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.33.

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.