Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Darling Ingredients Inc. has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from nine analysts, with a target price of $43.57.
• CEO Randall C. Stuewe sold 35,000 shares at an average price of $30.92, resulting in a 4.29% decrease in his ownership stake.
• Institutional investors own 94.44% of Darling Ingredients' shares, with Thrivent Financial significantly increasing its stake by 93.3% in the recent quarter.

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.5714.

DAR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Darling Ingredients in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $36.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Darling Ingredients in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Darling Ingredients from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darling Ingredients news, CEO Randall C. Stuewe sold 35,000 shares of Darling Ingredients stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.92, for a total transaction of $1,082,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 781,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,162,032.04. The trade was a 4.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Darling Ingredients

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Darling Ingredients by 609.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 653 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Darling Ingredients by 681.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Darling Ingredients by 33.3% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. 94.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darling Ingredients Stock Performance

NYSE:DAR traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $32.07. 1,724,585 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,107,027. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.59 and a beta of 1.16. Darling Ingredients has a 52-week low of $26.00 and a 52-week high of $43.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company's 50 day moving average price is $34.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.20.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.49 billion. Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 2.35% and a net margin of 1.85%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Darling Ingredients will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

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.