Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Issues Earnings Results, Hits Expectations

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03, RTT News reports. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. 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 Up 14.7 %

DRI opened at $183.44 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $188.82. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $166.25 and a 200-day moving average of $156.99. The stock has a market cap of $21.55 billion, a PE ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several research reports. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total transaction of $542,587.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,005,911.65. The trade was a 35.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,057,743.30. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.