Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Increases Holdings in Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 75,577 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,698 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Darling Ingredients were worth $3,795,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 43,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC purchased a new position in Darling Ingredients during the fourth quarter worth about $845,000. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 42,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,102,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 145.8% during the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 13,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 8,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 192,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,095,000 after buying an additional 46,698 shares in the last quarter. 94.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kurt Stoffel bought 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $41.62 per share, with a total value of $332,960.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 10,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $439,965.02. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on DAR. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Darling Ingredients from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Stephens reduced their target price on 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Darling Ingredients from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Darling Ingredients from $73.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Darling Ingredients from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darling Ingredients has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.82.

Darling Ingredients Trading Down 4.5 %

NYSE DAR opened at $45.43 on Friday. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.97 and a 1-year high of $71.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.78 and a 200-day moving average of $45.10. The firm has a market cap of $7.26 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 1.29.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last released its 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 company 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 Inc. will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

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.