Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Updates FY25 Earnings Guidance

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) updated its FY25 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of $9.40-$9.60 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $9.52. The company issued revenue guidance of $11.8-$11.9 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $11.94 billion.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DRI. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Raymond James upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen reissued a buy rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BTIG Research raised Darden Restaurants from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $175.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, May 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $173.76.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $153.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.29. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $133.36 and a 1 year high of $176.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $150.69 and a 200-day moving average of $159.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.04. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.5 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 61.50%.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $734,998.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,599 shares of company stock worth $2,197,891. Corporate insiders own 0.85% 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.