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

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.450-9.520 EPS and its FY25 guidance to $9.45-$9.52 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 5.6 %

Shares of DRI opened at $198.66 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $203.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $191.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on DRI shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.33.

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.