Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR)

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors bought 5,757 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 110% compared to the average daily volume of 2,739 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on DAR shares. Tudor Pickering upgraded Darling Ingredients from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Darling Ingredients from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Darling Ingredients from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darling Ingredients

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients by 148.9% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,393,153 shares of the company's stock worth $148,005,000 after buying an additional 2,627,785 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Darling Ingredients in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,956,000. Gates Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 18.7% in the first quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,915,560 shares of the company's stock valued at $247,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,117 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Darling Ingredients by 15.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,480,803 shares of the company's stock worth $233,701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients by 155.5% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,479,369 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,215,000 after purchasing an additional 900,461 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.44% of the company's stock.

Darling Ingredients Stock Performance

NYSE DAR traded up $0.61 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $38.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 649,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,391,412. Darling Ingredients has a 12 month low of $26.00 and a 12 month high of $43.49. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $33.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.19 and a beta of 1.18.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.36). Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 3.78% and a net margin of 3.02%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side 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.

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