Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Releases FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) updated its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided EPS guidance of 10.500-10.700 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 10.750. The company issued revenue guidance of -, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $13.1 billion.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $213.35.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $222.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $207.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $195.58. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $233.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.75.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.06. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.68% and a net margin of 8.96%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.65 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

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

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.