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

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 5,530 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 178% compared to the average daily volume of 1,988 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DAR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Darling Ingredients from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darling Ingredients has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darling Ingredients

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 8,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Darling Ingredients by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ironwood Investment Management LLC now owns 41,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 20,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $631,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 1.1% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 38,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,189,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.44% of the company’s stock.

Darling Ingredients Stock Up 4.6%

DAR opened at $32.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Darling Ingredients has a 1-year low of $26.00 and a 1-year high of $43.49. The company has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.92.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.36). Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 4.88% and a return on equity of 6.04%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Darling Ingredients will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

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.