Allstate Corp Takes $642,000 Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,437 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $642,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $642,967,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $75,137,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 6,456.8% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 185,098 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $34,556,000 after purchasing an additional 182,275 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $171,288,000 after buying an additional 121,015 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on DRI. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $202.08.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total transaction of $2,390,653.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,328 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,684,637.36. This represents a 47.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock traded down $8.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $192.28. The stock had a trading volume of 1,913,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,278,094. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $196.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.53 billion, a PE ratio of 22.03, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $211.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.13%.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.