Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Holdings in Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE – Get Rating) by 95.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 917 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Green Plains were worth $28,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Green Plains by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,033,859 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $291,683,000 after buying an additional 1,181,259 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Green Plains by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,471,629 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $121,494,000 after buying an additional 290,543 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Green Plains by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,964,045 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $115,234,000 after buying an additional 266,997 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Green Plains by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,805,680 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $87,003,000 after buying an additional 76,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in Green Plains by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 2,773,144 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $80,615,000 after buying an additional 451,017 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Green Plains in a research note on Friday, May 12th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Craig Hallum upped their price target on shares of Green Plains from $44.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Green Plains in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Green Plains in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Green Plains currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Green Plains news, CEO Todd A. Becker sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $1,050,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 751,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,529.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Green Plains news, Director Brian Peterson sold 33,641 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total transaction of $1,004,520.26. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 32,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $968,270.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Todd A. Becker sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $1,050,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 751,967 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,529.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 123,641 shares of company stock valued at $3,773,270 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Green Plains Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GPRE opened at $30.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.89 and a beta of 1.73. Green Plains Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.33 and a 52 week high of $41.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.20) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by ($0.83). Green Plains had a negative net margin of 3.66% and a negative return on equity of 14.94%. The business had revenue of $832.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $823.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.16) earnings per share. Green Plains’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Green Plains Inc. will post -0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Green Plains Company Profile

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Green Plains, Inc engages in the production of fuel-grade ethanol and corn oil, the provision of grain handling, and storage commodity marketing and distribution services. It operates through the following segments: Ethanol Production, Agribusiness and Energy Services, and Partnership. The Ethanol Production segment produces ethanol, distillers’ grain, and corn oil at ethanol plants in Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Texas.