Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.08 EPS

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.78 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 Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:DRI traded down $2.10 on Friday, reaching $170.17. The stock had a trading volume of 2,870,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,237,463. The company has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $150.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.49. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $133.36 and a 12-month high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 65.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.28.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. 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.