Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR)

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 25,231 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,920% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,249 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 825,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,810,000 after purchasing an additional 24,489 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients by 49.0% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 3,323 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients in the fourth quarter valued at $1,021,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in Darling Ingredients by 148.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,627,785 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.44% of the company’s stock.

Darling Ingredients Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE DAR opened at $32.28 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.42. The stock has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.66 and a beta of 1.25. Darling Ingredients has a 52 week low of $27.20 and a 52 week high of $48.39. 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 (NYSE:DAR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 4.88% and a return on equity of 6.04%. Equities research analysts predict that Darling Ingredients will post 2.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on DAR. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Darling Ingredients from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Darling Ingredients from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.75.

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.