Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $2.23 Million Position in Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 44,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,233,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Darling Ingredients by 38.9% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 689 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.44% of the company’s stock.

Darling Ingredients Stock Performance

NYSE:DAR opened at $42.38 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.80. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.97 and a 1 year high of $71.60. The company has a market capitalization of $6.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.29.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.12). Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 15.05% and a net margin of 9.54%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. On average, analysts expect that Darling Ingredients Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kurt Stoffel purchased 8,000 shares of Darling Ingredients stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $41.62 per share, for a total transaction of $332,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,571 shares in the company, valued at $439,965.02. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on DAR. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Darling Ingredients from $73.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stephens reduced their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Darling Ingredients from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.82.

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.