Bridgewater Associates LP Invests $12.55 Million in Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR)

Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 372,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,547,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DAR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,567,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,486,000 after purchasing an additional 203,921 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in Darling Ingredients by 148.9% during the 4th 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 last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Darling Ingredients by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,919,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,049,000 after buying an additional 595,325 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Darling Ingredients by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,739,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,830,000 after buying an additional 36,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,425,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,034,000 after acquiring an additional 389,980 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DAR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Darling Ingredients in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $51.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen cut their target price on Darling Ingredients from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Darling Ingredients from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.78.

Darling Ingredients Stock Performance

NYSE DAR opened at $29.72 on Thursday. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.00 and a fifty-two week high of $47.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.18 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.80.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Darling Ingredients had a return on equity of 6.04% and a net margin of 4.88%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Darling Ingredients Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current 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.