Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) gapped up prior to trading on Monday after Weiss Ratings upgraded the stock from a hold (c+) rating to a buy (b-) rating. The stock had previously closed at $60.26, but opened at $62.21. Darling Ingredients shares last traded at $61.6160, with a volume of 92,332 shares changing hands.

DAR has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research cut shares of Darling Ingredients from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 18th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Darling Ingredients from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on Darling Ingredients from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Darling Ingredients from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darling Ingredients has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.80.

Insider Transactions at Darling Ingredients

In other Darling Ingredients news, CAO Joseph Manzi sold 1,000 shares of Darling Ingredients stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.27, for a total value of $67,270.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Patrick McNutt sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.09, for a total transaction of $536,720.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,777 shares in the company, valued at $2,400,278.93. This trade represents a 18.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,591 shares of company stock valued at $704,303. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Darling Ingredients in the second quarter valued at approximately $851,450,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,066,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $498,927,000 after acquiring an additional 47,565 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Darling Ingredients during the second quarter worth approximately $168,348,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Darling Ingredients during the second quarter worth approximately $129,371,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,212,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,854,000 after acquiring an additional 120,674 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.44% of the company’s stock.

Darling Ingredients Stock Up 3.3%

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $63.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27 and a beta of 1.04. 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 (NYSE:DAR) last released 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. Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS. Darling Ingredients’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Darling Ingredients Inc. will post 7.05 EPS for the current year.

About Darling Ingredients

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.