Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nine brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.2857.

GPRE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Green Plains in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Green Plains from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Green Plains from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Green Plains in a report on Tuesday, April 21st.

Institutional Trading of Green Plains

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GPRE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Green Plains by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,696,401 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $46,025,000 after acquiring an additional 645,170 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Green Plains by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,629,815 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,772,000 after acquiring an additional 85,982 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Green Plains by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,187,541 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $21,438,000 after acquiring an additional 10,237 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Green Plains by 112.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,823,740 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $17,873,000 after acquiring an additional 966,069 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Green Plains by 73.1% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,686,251 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $16,525,000 after acquiring an additional 712,337 shares during the period.

Green Plains Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Green Plains stock opened at $15.09 on Tuesday. Green Plains has a fifty-two week low of $5.60 and a fifty-two week high of $18.94. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of -45.73 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average is $15.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.43. Green Plains had a positive return on equity of 2.86% and a negative net margin of 0.80%.The business had revenue of $445.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $532.53 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.14) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Green Plains will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Green Plains Company Profile

Green Plains Inc is a leading producer of fuel-grade ethanol and related co-products in the United States. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, the company operates an integrated network of biorefineries that convert corn and other grains into renewable fuels. Through its production facilities, Green Plains supplies ethanol to domestic fuel markets and export channels, supporting efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote cleaner-burning transportation options.

Beyond ethanol, Green Plains manufactures a range of co-products that add value throughout the agricultural supply chain.