Allstate Corp Grows Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Allstate Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 107.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 4,232 shares during the period. Allstate Corp’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 926.7% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Wealth Watch Advisors INC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $204.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $197.87 and a 200 day moving average of $196.54.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on DRI. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Barclays increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.32.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.