American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 526,425 Shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) by 1,003.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 578,908 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 526,425 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.36% of Darling Ingredients worth $19,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 203.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,844,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,235,985 shares in the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co boosted its holdings in Darling Ingredients by 2,140.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Darling Ingredients in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,545,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,324,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,528,000 after buying an additional 491,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in shares of Darling Ingredients by 2,200.7% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 477,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,078,000 after buying an additional 456,482 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.44% of the company’s stock.

Darling Ingredients Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:DAR opened at $31.58 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 1.25. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.20 and a 12 month high of $48.39. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $35.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.46.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on DAR shares. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Darling Ingredients in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Darling Ingredients from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Darling Ingredients from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darling Ingredients presently 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.