Darling Ingredients Gains as Buyback and Tax Credit Catalysts Support Shares

Darling Ingredients (DAR) is up 4.4% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The move appears tied to a mix of improving cash generation, a much larger stock buyback authorization, and investor optimism around renewable-fuels earnings. There does not appear to be a single same-day filing driving the gain, so the rally likely reflects continued follow-through from August updates and a stronger second-half outlook.

Details:

In late July, Darling posted sharply stronger second-quarter results, including net income of $387.3 million, combined adjusted EBITDA of $741.7 million, and $280 million of cash distributions from Diamond Green Diesel.

The company also said it reduced net debt by $223 million during the quarter, repurchased $73 million of stock, and expects to end 2026 with lower leverage, reinforcing the balance-sheet improvement story.

On August 5, the board refreshed and increased Darling’s share repurchase program to $1 billion with no expiration date, a capital-return step that can support sentiment and valuation.

On August 11, Darling announced an agreement to sell about $150 million of production tax credits generated by Diamond Green Diesel, giving investors another sign that renewable-fuels cash flows and policy-linked value are being converted into near-term proceeds.

Sources:

Darling Ingredients, SEC, Zacks

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$DAR Insider Trading Activity

$DAR insiders have traded $DAR stock on the open market 8 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 2 have been purchases and 6 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $DAR stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

RANDALL C STUEWE (Chairman and CEO) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 10,000 shares for an estimated $640,250.
PATRICK MCNUTT (EVP Chief Admin Officer) sold 8,000 shares for an estimated $536,720
JOSEPH MANZI (Chief Accounting Officer) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 4,000 shares for an estimated $258,940.
NICHOLAS JAMES KEMPHAUS (EVP Gen. Counsel & Secretary) sold 1,591 shares for an estimated $100,312
CHARLES L ADAIR has made 2 purchases buying 1,000 shares for an estimated $60,970 and 0 sales.

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard. You can access data on insider stock transactions through the Quiver Quantitative API insider transaction endpoint.

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$DAR Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 326 institutional investors add shares of $DAR stock to their portfolio, and 322 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

MILLENNIUM MANAGEMENT LLC removed 2,639,156 shares (-91.5%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $144,150,700
FRONTIER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT CO LLC removed 1,661,802 shares (-67.7%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $90,767,625
SIXTH STREET PARTNERS MANAGEMENT COMPANY, L.P. added 1,650,959 shares (+inf%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $90,175,380
QUBE RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGIES LTD added 1,505,302 shares (+463.1%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $82,219,595
NOMURA HOLDINGS INC removed 1,402,386 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $76,598,323
UBS GROUP AG removed 1,212,556 shares (-42.6%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $66,229,808
CITADEL ADVISORS LLC added 1,082,342 shares (+36.6%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $59,117,520

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard. You can access data on hedge funds moves and 13F filings through the Quiver Quantitative API 13F endpoint.

$DAR Government Contracts

We have seen $352,000 of award payments to $DAR over the last year.

Here are some of the awards which we have have seen pay out the most over the last year:

To track government contracts to publicy traded companies, check out Quiver Quantitative's government contracts dashboard. You can access data on government contracts through the Quiver Quantitative API government contracts endpoint.

$DAR Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $DAR recently. We have seen 8 analysts offer price targets for $DAR in the last 6 months, with a median target of $72.5.

Here are some recent targets:

Theresa Chen from Barclays set a target price of $62.0 on 07/02/2026
Jason Gabelman from TD Cowen set a target price of $70.0 on 06/23/2026
Thomas Palmer from JP Morgan set a target price of $79.0 on 05/12/2026
Lloyd Byrne from Jefferies set a target price of $75.0 on 05/04/2026
Betty Zhang from Scotiabank set a target price of $70.0 on 04/22/2026
Ben Bienvenu from Stephens & Co. set a target price of $70.0 on 04/21/2026
Ben Kallo from Baird set a target price of $75.0 on 04/07/2026

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.