Steele Capital Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR)

Steele Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 37,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,874,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Darling Ingredients by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 4,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in Darling Ingredients by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 73,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,855,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. 94.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DAR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Darling Ingredients from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Darling Ingredients from $73.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Darling Ingredients from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darling Ingredients

In other news, Director Kurt Stoffel acquired 8,000 shares of Darling Ingredients stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $41.62 per share, for a total transaction of $332,960.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 10,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $439,965.02. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

Darling Ingredients Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of DAR traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $44.21. 2,134,113 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,102,245. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $7.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.24 and a beta of 1.29. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.97 and a 12-month high of $71.60.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Darling Ingredients had a net margin of 8.46% and a return on equity of 12.27%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Darling Ingredients Inc. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darling Ingredients 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.