Destiny Wealth Partners LLC Has $372,000 Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Destiny Wealth Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 10.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,791 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 296.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $61,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 555.3% during the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.77.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $217.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.75. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $218.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $203.01 and a 200-day moving average of $192.94.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The firm 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%. The company’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, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total transaction of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,072.96. The trade was a 20.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.