Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR)

Key Points

• Darling Ingredients experienced a significant increase in call options trading, with 10,727 options traded on a single day, a 199% rise from its daily average of 3,588.
• CEO Randall C. Stuewe sold 35,000 shares of his company’s stock, resulting in a 4.29% decrease in his ownership, while insiders currently hold 2.62% of the total stock.
• Analysts have mixed views on Darling Ingredients, reflecting in the change of ratings, with one analyst offering a "Strong Buy" rating while the consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $43.57.

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 10,727 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 199% compared to the typical volume of 3,588 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DAR. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Tudor Pickering raised Darling Ingredients from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Baird R W cut Darling Ingredients from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $36.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of Darling Ingredients in a report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Randall C. Stuewe sold 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.92, for a total value of $1,082,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 781,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,162,032.04. This represents a 4.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.07% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darling Ingredients

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Peregrine Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 16.5% during the first quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 218,806 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,835,000 after purchasing an additional 30,952 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 19.3% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 30,490 shares of the company's stock valued at $953,000 after purchasing an additional 4,933 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 14.1% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 154,315 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,821,000 after purchasing an additional 19,113 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 6,187.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 64,448 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,063,000 after purchasing an additional 63,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darling Ingredients during the first quarter valued at approximately $255,000. 94.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darling Ingredients Stock Up 0.3%

DAR traded up $0.09 on Wednesday, hitting $33.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,242,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,369,569. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Darling Ingredients has a 52-week low of $26.00 and a 52-week high of $43.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.67 and a beta of 1.16.

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