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

Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,437 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $642,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,497,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,760,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on DRI shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.4 %

DRI opened at $208.05 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $195.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.97. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $211.00. The stock has a market cap of $24.37 billion, a PE ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. 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) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders 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 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.