Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Meets Expectations

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03, RTT News reports. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. 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 Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $159.87 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $177.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.81.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at $659,601.36. This trade represents a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,666 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total transaction of $286,552.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $917,448. This represents a 23.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DRI shares. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.46.

About Darden Restaurants

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.