Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.96 by $0.02, RTT News reports. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 50.68%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants updated its FY 2026 guidance to 10.500-10.700 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $224.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.36, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.75. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $227.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a 50 day moving average of $207.70 and a 200 day moving average of $195.58.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total transaction of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This trade represents a 20.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Darden Restaurants from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $165.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, June 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities reissued a "hold" rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $213.35.

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.