Allegheny Financial Group LTD Purchases Shares of 264 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Allegheny Financial Group LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI – Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 264 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. We Are One Seven LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at about $211,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 662,534 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $99,798,000 after buying an additional 25,168 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at about $591,000. Heritage Trust Co purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at about $308,000. Finally, Argent Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 17,090 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,574,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.71% of the company’s stock.

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $131.48 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $116.04 and a fifty-two week high of $164.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.35. The company has a market capitalization of $16.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 24th. The restaurant operator reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.17). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 36.26%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 8th were given a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 7th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.42%.

In other news, Director Juliana L. Chugg purchased 1,925 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $129.01 per share, with a total value of $248,344.25. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.95% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 25th. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $176.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 25th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $156.00 to $153.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 25th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $173.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.05.

About Darden Restaurants (Get Rating)

Darden Restaurants, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. As of May 30, 2021, it owned and operated 1,834 restaurants, which included 875 under the Olive Garden, 533 under the LongHorn Steakhouse, 170 under the Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, 81 under the Yard House, 63 under The Capital Grille, 44 under the Seasons 52, 42 under the Bahama Breeze, and 26 under the Eddie V's Prime Seafood brands.

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