Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Issues FY25 Earnings Guidance

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) updated its FY25 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $9.40-9.60 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $9.48. Darden Restaurants also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.400-9.600 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 8.3 %

NYSE DRI opened at $172.27 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $149.69 and its 200-day 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James reissued an outperform rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Argus reduced their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $173.87.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.