Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on DAR. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Darling Ingredients in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Darling Ingredients from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.75.

Darling Ingredients Stock Performance

Darling Ingredients stock opened at $32.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.42. Darling Ingredients has a 52 week low of $31.87 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 6.04% and a net margin of 4.88%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Darling Ingredients will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darling Ingredients

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DAR. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 148.9% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,393,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,005,000 after buying an additional 2,627,785 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Darling Ingredients in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,956,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 203.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,844,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,985 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co boosted its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 2,140.4% in the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 877,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,597,000 after purchasing an additional 838,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in Darling Ingredients in the third quarter valued at about $30,545,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.44% of the company’s stock.

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.