Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.10.

A number of brokerages have commented on DAR. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Darling Ingredients from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Darling Ingredients from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th.

Darling Ingredients Stock Performance

DAR stock opened at $36.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.30. Darling Ingredients has a 52 week low of $32.67 and a 52 week high of $56.34. The stock has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.57.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.10. Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 6.04% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Darling Ingredients will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darling Ingredients news, EVP Robert W. Day bought 2,532 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $39.37 per share, with a total value of $99,684.84. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $496,337.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darling Ingredients

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,610,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $726,056,000 after buying an additional 232,583 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 52.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,236,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,445,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800,809 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 24.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,279,247 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,028,000 after acquiring an additional 851,886 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,829,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,725,000 after purchasing an additional 470,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,650,000. 94.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darling Ingredients Company Profile

Darling Ingredients Inc develops, produces, and sells natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients in North America, Europe, China, South America, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Feed Ingredients, Food Ingredients, and Fuel Ingredients. It offers ingredients and customized specialty solutions for customers in the pharmaceutical, food, pet food, feed, industrial, fuel, bioenergy, and fertilizer industries.