Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) from a "hold" to a "buy," and several firms including JPMorgan, UBS and Jefferies raised price targets — the consensus analyst rating is Buy with a $64.56 target.
• Shares opened at $57.91 and were down 4.1%; the company has a $9.19 billion market cap and an elevated valuation (P/E 148.49, PEG 0.44) with a 1‑year range of $28.32–$64.90.
• Darling reported quarterly EPS of $0.35 and $1.71 billion in revenue (net margin 1.02%, ROE 2.36%), while CEO Randall Stuewe sold 20,000 shares in March and institutional investors own about 94.44% of the stock.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

DAR has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $59.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Darling Ingredients in a research report on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $64.56.

Darling Ingredients Stock Down 4.1%

NYSE DAR opened at $57.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Darling Ingredients has a 1-year low of $28.32 and a 1-year high of $64.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.04 and a 200-day moving average of $43.06. The company has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.49, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.08.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter. Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 1.02% and a return on equity of 2.36%. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Darling Ingredients will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Randall C. Stuewe sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.12, for a total transaction of $1,042,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,117,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,222,470.20. This represents a 1.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,701 shares of the company's stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 0.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 48,856 shares of the company's stock worth $1,508,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 24,318 shares of the company's stock worth $875,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA increased its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA now owns 20,457 shares of the company's stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,026 shares of the company's stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. 94.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Darling Ingredients

Darling Ingredients Inc NYSE: DAR is a global leader in converting edible and inedible bio-nutrient streams into sustainable food, feed ingredients, renewable fuels and specialty products. Founded in 1882 and headquartered in Irving, Texas, the company builds on more than a century of experience in animal rendering and by-product recycling. Over time, Darling has expanded its capabilities beyond traditional rendering to include advanced processing technologies that support a circular economy and reduce waste from food and agricultural industries.

The company's core operations revolve around four primary segments: Feed Ingredients & Services, Food & Nutrition, Fuel Ingredients & Services, and Specialty Ingredients.

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