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 9.400-9.600 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 9.500. The company issued revenue guidance of $11.8 billion-$11.9 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $11.8 billion.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $159.14 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $149.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.35. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $133.36 and a 12-month high of $176.84. The company has a market capitalization of $18.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a hold rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from a hold rating to an underperform rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America increased 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 Friday, June 21st. Finally, Raymond James reissued an outperform rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $170.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

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