Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) Short Interest Update

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,520,000 shares, a growth of 9.5% from the May 15th total of 9,610,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,470,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days. Currently, 6.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Darling Ingredients Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DAR opened at $34.48 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Darling Ingredients has a 1-year low of $34.10 and a 1-year high of $71.60. The firm has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 1.26.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 8.46%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Darling Ingredients will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darling Ingredients

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Community Trust & Investment Co. lifted its position in Darling Ingredients by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 179,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,345,000 after buying an additional 10,206 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the 1st quarter worth about $14,676,000. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,462,000. Vancity Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 31.9% in the 1st quarter. Vancity Investment Management Ltd now owns 23,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 5,793 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,359,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,232,000 after purchasing an additional 234,907 shares during the period. 94.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DAR. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup raised shares of Darling Ingredients from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $51.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 20th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.45.

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.