Darling Ingredients Inc. $DAR Stock Acquired by Candriam S.C.A.

Key Points

• Candriam S.C.A. increased its Darling Ingredients stake by 104.7% in the third quarter, adding 204,945 shares to hold 400,607 shares valued at about $24.4 million.
• Darling reported quarterly EPS of $1.67, slightly below the $1.70 consensus estimate, while revenue of $1.79 billion matched expectations.
• Analysts give the stock a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, with an average price target of $73.80.

Candriam S.C.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR - Free Report) by 104.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 400,607 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 204,945 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A. owned about 0.25% of Darling Ingredients worth $24,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAR. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients in the second quarter valued at approximately $851,450,000. AIA Group Ltd bought a new position in Darling Ingredients during the first quarter worth $4,453,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in Darling Ingredients during the second quarter worth $1,447,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Darling Ingredients by 246.8% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 144,263 shares of the company's stock worth $7,953,000 after acquiring an additional 102,664 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Darling Ingredients during the 2nd quarter valued at $129,371,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.44% of the company's stock.

Darling Ingredients Stock Performance

DAR opened at $50.22 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $7.92 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.65 and a 1 year high of $69.98. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $61.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.50.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.70 by ($0.03). Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darling Ingredients Inc. will post 6.85 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Darling Ingredients from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Darling Ingredients to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $73.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Patrick McNutt sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.09, for a total transaction of $536,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 35,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,400,278.93. This trade represents a 18.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Joseph Manzi sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.27, for a total transaction of $67,270.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 18,969 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,276,044.63. The trade was a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Darling Ingredients Profile

Darling Ingredients Inc collects and transforms animal by-products and other organic materials into ingredients and products used in food, animal feed, fuel and other markets. Its operations help convert materials from meat processing, food production and used cooking oils into usable fats, proteins, oils and other ingredients.

The company's businesses span feed ingredients, food ingredients and fuel ingredients. Products include animal nutrition ingredients, gelatin and collagen, and fats and oils used in food and industrial applications.

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