Short Interest in Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) Increases By 9.3%

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,340,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the August 31st total of 9,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,070,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days. Approximately 6.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Robert W. Day acquired 2,532 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $39.37 per share, with a total value of $99,684.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $496,337.59. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darling Ingredients

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the 4th quarter valued at $92,661,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 52.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,236,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,445,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800,809 shares during the period. Gates Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients during the fourth quarter valued at about $88,885,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 55.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,562,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,683,000 after purchasing an additional 554,512 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,829,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,725,000 after buying an additional 470,170 shares in the last quarter. 94.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darling Ingredients Stock Performance

NYSE:DAR traded down $0.56 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.60. 1,221,821 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,200,488. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Darling Ingredients has a twelve month low of $32.67 and a twelve month high of $52.73.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 6.04% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Darling Ingredients will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on DAR shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Darling Ingredients from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Darling Ingredients from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Darling Ingredients from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darling Ingredients currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.10.

About Darling Ingredients

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.