Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) Shares Down 5.3% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) fell 5.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $15.65 and last traded at $15.57. 105,548 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 1,572,783 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.45.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on GPRE. Stephens upgraded Green Plains from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $10.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Monday, February 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Green Plains from $7.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Green Plains in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Green Plains from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Green Plains from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Green Plains presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.29.

Green Plains Stock Down 3.7%

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.37, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.46.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $428.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $536.56 million. Green Plains had a negative net margin of 5.80% and a negative return on equity of 8.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.86) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Green Plains, Inc. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Green Plains

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GPRE. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Green Plains by 72.9% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 70,808 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 29,847 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Green Plains by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 880,217 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $8,626,000 after buying an additional 216,875 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Green Plains in the fourth quarter valued at $100,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Green Plains during the fourth quarter valued at $116,000. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 417,256 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,089,000 after acquiring an additional 36,002 shares during the period.

About Green Plains

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.