Darling Ingredients Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:DAR)

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 5,530 call options on the company. This is an increase of 178% compared to the typical volume of 1,988 call options.

Darling Ingredients Trading Up 9.1%

NYSE:DAR opened at $35.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.81 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.88. Darling Ingredients has a 12-month low of $26.00 and a 12-month high of $43.49.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.36). Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 6.04% and a net margin of 4.88%. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Darling Ingredients will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DAR. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 148.9% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,393,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,005,000 after acquiring an additional 2,627,785 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients in the fourth quarter valued at $63,956,000. Gates Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 18.7% in the first quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,915,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,117 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 15.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,480,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 155.5% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,479,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,215,000 after purchasing an additional 900,461 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DAR. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Darling Ingredients from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Darling Ingredients from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.00.

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.