Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Raises Stock Position in Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) by 29.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,279,907 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 291,138 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Darling Ingredients were worth $43,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of DAR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Darling Ingredients in the fourth quarter worth about $63,956,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients by 203.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,844,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,985 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co boosted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 2,140.4% in the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 877,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,597,000 after buying an additional 838,047 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,545,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 1,003.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 578,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,503,000 after buying an additional 526,425 shares during the last quarter. 94.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darling Ingredients Price Performance

NYSE:DAR opened at $31.58 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.43. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.20 and a 52 week high of $48.39. The stock has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Darling Ingredients Inc. will post 2.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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