Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) Stock Has Average Target Price of $72.40

Shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.40.

DAR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Darling Ingredients to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Darling Ingredients from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Darling Ingredients from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Darling Ingredients from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th.

Darling Ingredients Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of Darling Ingredients stock opened at $60.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a PE ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $63.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.11. Darling Ingredients has a 1 year low of $29.15 and a 1 year high of $69.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $1.01. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Darling Ingredients will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nicholas Kemphaus sold 1,591 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.05, for a total transaction of $100,312.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,087 shares in the company, valued at $2,212,235.35. This trade represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 owned 35,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,400,278.93. This represents a 18.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 10,591 shares of company stock worth $704,303 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darling Ingredients

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Darling Ingredients in the 2nd quarter valued at $851,450,000. AIA Group Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients during the first quarter worth $4,453,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients during the second quarter worth $1,447,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 448.5% in the first quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 52,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,250,000 after buying an additional 42,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients by 7,554.6% in the first quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 286,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,735,000 after buying an additional 282,994 shares in the last quarter. 94.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darling Ingredients Company Profile

Darling Ingredients Inc is a global developer and producer of sustainable ingredients created from animal by-products, food waste and used cooking oil. The company collects and transforms these materials into products used in animal feed, pet food, agriculture, food, fuel and other industrial applications.

Its products include rendered fats and proteins, specialty feed ingredients, fertilizer inputs, collagen and gelatin, and bioenergy feedstocks. Through its renewable diesel operations, including the Diamond Green Diesel joint venture, Darling also converts low-carbon waste fats and oils into renewable fuel.

Founded in 1882, Darling Ingredients has grown from a U.S.