Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01, RTT News reports. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 50.68%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants updated its FY 2026 guidance to 10.500-10.700 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.5%

DRI stock opened at $226.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.75. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, June 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Darden Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $210.00 in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Truist Financial raised 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $213.35.

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.