Allstate Corp Makes New Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Allstate Corp bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 3,437 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $642,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,756 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 21,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,047,000 after buying an additional 1,101 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,843 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,091,000 after buying an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 71,813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,407,000 after acquiring an additional 10,858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 41,851.4% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 44,888 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,380,000 after acquiring an additional 44,781 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price 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. Barclays raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $375,431.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction 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 approximately $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock worth $13,658,221. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $208.05 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $195.15 and its 200 day moving average is $178.97. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $211.00. The firm has a market cap of $24.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.83, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.60 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.13%.

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.