Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 17,949 Shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR - Free Report) by 29.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,517 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 17,949 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Darling Ingredients were worth $2,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of DAR. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Darling Ingredients by 203.2% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co boosted its position in Darling Ingredients by 2,140.4% during the 3rd 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 period. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Darling Ingredients during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,545,000. ING Groep NV increased its position in Darling Ingredients by 244.1% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 810,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,103,000 after acquiring an additional 574,700 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Darling Ingredients by 17.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,324,217 shares of the company's stock valued at $123,528,000 after acquiring an additional 491,477 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DAR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Darling Ingredients from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darling Ingredients has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $52.75.

Darling Ingredients Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of DAR stock traded down $1.73 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $34.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,739,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,142,582. The company has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86 and a beta of 1.21. 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 company's fifty day simple moving average is $36.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.63. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.55 and a 52 week high of $48.39.

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Darling Ingredients Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.