Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) released its earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08), Briefing.com reports. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.400-9.600 EPS and its FY25 guidance to $9.40-9.60 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $172.27 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84. The company has a market capitalization of $20.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $153.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.24.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI cut 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 research note on Thursday, June 13th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. One equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.18.

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.