Darden Restaurants Company Profile (NYSE:DRI)

Darden Restaurants trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "DRI."

Darden Restaurants announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share on Wednesday, November 1st. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 6th. View Darden Restaurants' Dividend History.

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June, 27th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks' consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.03. The firm earned $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 6.68%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. View Darden Restaurants' Earnings History.

Darden Restaurants is scheduled to release their next quarterly earnings announcement on Tuesday, September, 26th 2017. View Earnings Estimates for Darden Restaurants.

Darden Restaurants issued an update on its FY18 earnings guidance on Tuesday, June, 27th. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $4.38-4.50 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus earnings per share estimate of $4.42. The company issued revenue guidance of +11.5-13.0% to ~$7.99-8.10 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $7.89 billion.

23 equities research analysts have issued twelve-month price objectives for Darden Restaurants' stock. Their forecasts range from $50.00 to $102.00. On average, they expect Darden Restaurants' share price to reach $84.48 in the next twelve months. View Analyst Ratings for Darden Restaurants.

Here are some recent quotes from research analysts about Darden Restaurants stock:

• 1. According to Zacks Investment Research, "Darden’s shares outpaced its industry year to date. Most of its brands witnessed growth over the past few quarters given sales initiatives like simplifying kitchen systems, operational excellence to enhance guest experience, menu innovation, and technology-driven moves. Cheddar's acquisition has added an undisputed casual dining value leader to Darden's portfolio of differentiated brands that should further drive comps. Initiatives to attract guests at Olive Garden, LongHorn and other units also bode well. Darden’s efforts to check costs are commendable too. Backed by these efforts, Darden’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2017 earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the 11th consecutive quarter. Estimates are stable ahead of its first-quarter fiscal 2018 earnings release. Yet, rising labor costs and a non-franchised business model might dampen the company’s profits, while a soft industry backdrop could pressurize comps." (9/22/2017)
• 2. Maxim Group analysts commented, "We maintain our Hold rating on Darden Restaurants (DRI), though raise our price target to $90, from $87 ahead of the release of F4Q17 (May) earnings on Tuesday, June 27." (6/21/2017)
• 3. Wells Fargo & Company analysts commented, "Olive Garden's healthy share gains persist, but we remain on the sideline with DRI shares trading at almost 9.5x EBITDA and now incrementally levered (through the Cheddar's acquisition) to a structurally challenged casual dining segment. DRI reported F3Q EPS of $1.32, +9% Y/Y and above the $1.27 Street estimate. Blended SSS were +0.9%, handily outpacing the +0.3% Street number. By concept, the core Olive Garden posted +1.4% SSS, ahead of the Street estimate and in line with the 400bps of average SSS outperformance (vs the casual dining peer group) seen over the last 4 quarters. LongHorn's SSS were +0.2%, ahead of the -0.1% Street estimate and just above the 250bps outperformance seen over the last 4 quarters. The FY17 EPS guidance range was increased to $3.95-4.00 from $3.87-3.94 (Street at $3.94) with a minor bump in EPS driven by (based on our model) a more modest level of labor cost pressure. Raising FY17E EPS to $4.00 from $3.95 and FY18E to $4.32 from $4.24. Model does not reflect potential acquisition accretion." (3/28/2017)

Darden Restaurants saw a increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,251,662 shares, an increase of 41.3% from the July 31st total of 7,253,141 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,691,722 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.1 days. Approximately 8.2% of the company's stock are sold short.

Some companies that are related to Darden Restaurants include Restaurant Brands International (QSR), Whitbread plc (WTB), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL), Papa John's International (PZZA), Greene King plc (GNK), Bloomin' Brands (BLMN), Greggs plc (GRG), Shake Shack (SHAK), Mitchells & Butlers plc (MAB), Denny's Corporation (DENN), DineEquity (DIN), Young & Co.'s Brewery plc (YNGA), Marston's PLC (MARS), Biglari Holdings (BH), Restaurant Group PLC (RTN), Fuller, Smith & Turner plc (FSTA), Bojangles' (BOJA) and Young & Co.'s Brewery plc (YNGN).

Darden Restaurants' management team includes the folowing people:

• Charles M. Sonsteby, Independent Chairman of the Board
• Eugene I. Lee Jr., President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
• Ricardo Cardenas, Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President
• Todd A. Burrowes, President - LongHorn Steakhouse
• David C. George, President - Olive Garden and Executive Vice President
• Sarah H. King, Chief Human Resource Officer, Vice President
• Matthew R. Broad, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary
• John W. Madonna, Senior Vice President, Corporate Controller
• Margaret Shan Atkins, Independent Director
• Bradley D. Blum, Independent Director

Darden Restaurants' stock is owned by many different of institutional and retail investors. Top institutional investors include Vanguard Group Inc. (11.35%), BlackRock Inc. (9.39%), American International Group Inc. (4.94%), State Street Corp (4.37%), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (3.91%) and Ameriprise Financial Inc. (2.95%). Company insiders that own Darden Restaurants stock include Alan N Stillman, Danielle L Kirgan, David C George, Eugene I Lee Jr, Eugene I Lee, Jr, James P Fogarty and Jeffrey C Smith. View Institutional Ownership Trends for Darden Restaurants.

Darden Restaurants' stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including FMR LLC, Schroder Investment Management Group, LSV Asset Management, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc., Bessemer Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Royal Bank of Canada and NN Investment Partners Holdings N.V.. Company insiders that have sold Darden Restaurants stock in the last year include Danielle L Kirgan, David C George and Eugene I Lee Jr. View Insider Buying and Selling for Darden Restaurants.

Darden Restaurants' stock was acquired by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Janus Henderson Group PLC, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V., BlackRock Inc., Balyasny Asset Management LLC, Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc., Korea Investment CORP, TIAA CREF Investment Management LLC and Russell Investments Group Ltd.. View Insider Buying and Selling for Darden Restaurants.

Shares of Darden Restaurants can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Scottrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

One share of Darden Restaurants stock can currently be purchased for approximately $83.16.