Wall Street Zen Upgrades Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) to Strong-Buy

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Darling Ingredients to “strong-buy” from “buy.” The broader analyst consensus is “Moderate Buy,” based on 10 Buy ratings and three Holds, with an average price target of $69.
• Darling Ingredients reported quarterly earnings of $2.41 per share, beating estimates of $1.40, while revenue rose 16.4% year over year to $1.72 billion.
• The stock opened at $66.86, near its 52-week high of $67.68, and institutional investors own 94.44% of the company. An insider director bought 1,000 shares, while an executive vice president sold 8,000 shares.

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

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on DAR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Darling Ingredients from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Darling Ingredients from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Darling Ingredients from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Darling Ingredients from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $69.00.

Darling Ingredients Price Performance

DAR stock opened at $66.86 on Friday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $58.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.49. The firm has a market cap of $10.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.56. Darling Ingredients has a 1 year low of $29.15 and a 1 year high of $67.68.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $1.01. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 9.13%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Darling Ingredients will post 6.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darling Ingredients

In other news, Director Charles L. Adair purchased 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $60.97 per share, for a total transaction of $60,970.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 51,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,151,539.30. The trade was a 1.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick Mcnutt sold 8,000 shares of Darling Ingredients stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.09, for a total value of $536,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 35,777 shares in the company, valued at $2,400,278.93. This represents a 18.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients in the second quarter valued at about $851,450,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients in the second quarter valued at approximately $168,348,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Darling Ingredients during the fourth quarter worth $94,211,000. No Street GP LP purchased a new position in shares of Darling Ingredients in the third quarter valued at $69,458,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the 2nd quarter valued at $118,952,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.44% of the company's stock.

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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