Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Releases FY25 Earnings Guidance

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) issued an update on its FY25 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $9.40-9.60 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $9.48. Darden Restaurants also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.400-9.600 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $159.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $149.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.35. The firm has a market cap of $18.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $133.36 and a fifty-two week high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DRI. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $176.00 to $165.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Argus lowered their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $170.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.