Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) Shares Sold by IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lowered its position in shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) by 52.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,414 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,577 shares during the quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in Darling Ingredients were worth $957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Darling Ingredients by 203.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,844,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,985 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co raised its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 2,140.4% in the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 877,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,597,000 after buying an additional 838,047 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients in the third quarter valued at about $30,545,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients by 1,003.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 578,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,503,000 after buying an additional 526,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in Darling Ingredients by 17.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,324,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,528,000 after acquiring an additional 491,477 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.44% of the company’s stock.

Darling Ingredients Price Performance

NYSE:DAR opened at $31.90 on Friday. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.20 and a 52 week high of $48.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.45. The company has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 4.88% and a return on equity of 6.04%. Equities analysts expect that Darling Ingredients Inc. will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on DAR shares. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Darling Ingredients in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Darling Ingredients from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.75.

About Darling Ingredients

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.