Gabelli Funds LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR)

Gabelli Funds LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Darling Ingredients were worth $529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DAR. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients by 148.9% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,393,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,005,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627,785 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients during the fourth quarter valued at about $63,956,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 203.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,844,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,134,000 after buying an additional 1,235,985 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 266.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 973,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,799,000 after acquiring an additional 708,035 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,919,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,049,000 after acquiring an additional 595,325 shares during the period. 94.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on DAR shares. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Darling Ingredients from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $51.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com cut Darling Ingredients from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.78.

Darling Ingredients Trading Up 3.1 %

DAR stock opened at $30.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.75 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.41. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a one year low of $26.00 and a one year high of $47.28. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $32.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.71.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 4.88% and a return on equity of 6.04%. As a group, analysts predict that Darling Ingredients Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darling Ingredients 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.