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

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

DAR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Zacks Research raised shares of Darling Ingredients from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $59.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Darling Ingredients in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $49.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Darling Ingredients has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $67.40.

Darling Ingredients Stock Up 0.1%

Darling Ingredients stock opened at $63.82 on Friday. Darling Ingredients has a 1-year low of $29.15 and a 1-year high of $64.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.25 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $57.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.12. The company has a current ratio of 4.64, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.27. Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 3.54% and a return on equity of 5.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.16) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Darling Ingredients will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Darling Ingredients

In related news, CEO Randall C. Stuewe sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.12, for a total transaction of $1,042,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,117,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,222,470.20. This trade represents a 1.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Joseph Manzi sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.89, for a total transaction of $191,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 19,969 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,819.41. The trade was a 13.06% 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 large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 69.9% during the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 2.6% during the first quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 2.9% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 0.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 48,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,508,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. 94.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darling Ingredients News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Darling Ingredients this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings beat and profitability turnaround — DAR reported $0.83 EPS vs. consensus ~$0.58 and swung to net income of $134.3M from a loss a year ago, highlighting margin recovery and operational leverage. Business Wire: Q1 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Q2 core ingredients EBITDA guide supports near-term cash generation — management expects core ingredients EBITDA of $260M–$275M for Q2, giving investors a clearer earnings runway despite renewable margin pressure from RVO shifts. MSN: Q2 EBITDA Guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: Revenue roughly in line — Q1 sales were about $1.55B vs. ~$1.56B consensus (YoY +12%), so top-line growth is modestly positive but not a surprise. Yahoo Finance: Sales In Line
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/coverage notes and investor materials released — earnings call transcript and slide deck are available for detail on segment performance, useful for reassessing estimates. Seeking Alpha: Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Fatal incident and OSHA probe at Bastrop rendering plant — a worker death prompted an OSHA investigation and negative publicity that could lead to fines, operational disruption or higher compliance costs. This likely weighed on sentiment despite the beat. Hoodline: OSHA Probe
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale by CAO — Joseph Manzi sold 3,000 shares (~13% reduction in his holding), a small but visible insider sale disclosed to the SEC that can be read negatively by some investors. SEC: Insider Filing

Darling Ingredients Company Profile

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.