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

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 10,727 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 199% compared to the typical volume of 3,588 call options.

Insider Transactions at Darling Ingredients

In related news, CEO Randall C. Stuewe sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.92, for a total transaction of $1,082,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 781,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,162,032.04. This represents a 4.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darling Ingredients

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 148.9% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,393,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,005,000 after buying an additional 2,627,785 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Darling Ingredients in the second quarter worth approximately $74,041,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 973.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,502,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,989,000 after buying an additional 1,362,137 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in Darling Ingredients by 66.0% during the second quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 3,323,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,092,000 after buying an additional 1,320,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gates Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 94.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on DAR. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Darling Ingredients from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Baird R W cut shares of Darling Ingredients from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Darling Ingredients in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Tudor Pickering raised shares of Darling Ingredients from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.57.

Darling Ingredients Stock Down 1.3%

DAR stock opened at $31.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Darling Ingredients has a 1-year low of $26.00 and a 1-year high of $43.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.02. The firm has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.75 and a beta of 1.16.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 2.35% and a net margin of 1.85%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Darling Ingredients will post 2.81 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.