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

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) updated its FY 2025 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of 9.450-9.520 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 9.480. 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 $9.45-$9.52 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on DRI shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $203.47. The firm has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $192.08 and a 200-day moving average of $176.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.