Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Expected to Post Q1 2025 Earnings of $1.69 Per Share

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) – Equities research analysts at Wedbush dropped their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note issued on Thursday, June 20th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now forecasts that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $1.69 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $1.80. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Darden Restaurants’ current full-year earnings is $9.50 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Darden Restaurants’ Q2 2025 earnings at $1.93 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.78 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.87 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.11 EPS and Q3 2026 earnings at $3.02 EPS.

DRI has been the subject of several other reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $176.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.20.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $153.28 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $18.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $150.69 and a 200-day moving average of $159.62. 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 has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 EPS.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 164,249 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $23,524,000 after acquiring an additional 5,703 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 54,829 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,853,000 after acquiring an additional 2,552 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,467,716 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $210,206,000 after acquiring an additional 75,287 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 41.2% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,925 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 79.4% in the third quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 9,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,295,000 after acquiring an additional 4,002 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total transaction of $192,857.99. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $734,998.05. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,179 shares in the company, valued at $2,994,800.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 13,599 shares of company stock worth $2,197,891. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.50%.

Darden Restaurants declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.