Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,940,000 shares, an increase of 11.2% from the March 15th total of 8,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days. Approximately 5.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darling Ingredients news, Director Kurt Stoffel bought 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $41.62 per share, with a total value of $332,960.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 10,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $439,965.02. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darling Ingredients

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Darling Ingredients by 107,533.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,663,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,659,000 after purchasing an additional 7,656,389 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the fourth quarter worth $135,362,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the fourth quarter worth $92,661,000. Gates Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the fourth quarter worth $88,885,000. Finally, Triodos Investment Management BV bought a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients in the third quarter valued at $34,698,000. 94.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Darling Ingredients Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE DAR traded down $0.76 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $42.38. The stock had a trading volume of 1,497,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,047,451. Darling Ingredients has a 12 month low of $38.97 and a 12 month high of $71.60. The company has a market capitalization of $6.77 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.80.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.12). Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 9.54% and a return on equity of 15.05%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Darling Ingredients will post 3.41 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on DAR shares. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of Darling Ingredients from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $73.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darling Ingredients presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.82.

Darling Ingredients Company 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.