Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) Short Interest Up 9.3% in September

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,340,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the August 31st total of 9,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,070,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.0 days. Approximately 6.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity at Darling Ingredients

In other news, EVP Robert W. Day purchased 2,532 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $39.37 per share, for a total transaction of $99,684.84. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $496,337.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darling Ingredients

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 78,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,913,000 after acquiring an additional 6,934 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 63.0% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 243,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,162,000 after acquiring an additional 94,269 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 129.5% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 132,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,580,000 after acquiring an additional 74,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Darling Ingredients by 92,866.7% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 5,572 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.44% of the company’s stock.

Darling Ingredients Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE:DAR traded down $0.56 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $36.60. 1,221,821 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,200,488. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.95 and its 200-day moving average is $39.99. Darling Ingredients has a 12-month low of $32.67 and a 12-month high of $52.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.10. Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 6.04%. The company had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Darling Ingredients’s quarterly revenue was down 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Darling Ingredients will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup upgraded Darling Ingredients from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Darling Ingredients from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darling Ingredients currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.10.

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.