Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.40.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Green Plains from $33.50 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. TheStreet downgraded Green Plains from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Green Plains in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Green Plains from $39.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Green Plains in a research report on Monday, March 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Green Plains

In related news, Director Ejnar A. Knudsen III acquired 4,000 shares of Green Plains stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.73 per share, for a total transaction of $98,920.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 40,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,011,778.49. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Green Plains

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GPRE. State Street Corp grew its stake in Green Plains by 31.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,181,086 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $129,655,000 after buying an additional 1,011,642 shares during the last quarter. Wolf Hill Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 27.4% during the first quarter. Wolf Hill Capital Management LP now owns 2,834,587 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $87,844,000 after buying an additional 610,079 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Green Plains by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 5,479,901 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $164,945,000 after purchasing an additional 584,257 shares during the last quarter. Grizzlyrock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Green Plains in the 4th quarter valued at $10,444,000. Finally, Broad Bay Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Green Plains by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Broad Bay Capital Management LP now owns 2,352,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $59,317,000 after acquiring an additional 352,000 shares during the period.

Green Plains Stock Performance

Shares of Green Plains stock opened at $21.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.54 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.13 and a 200 day moving average of $24.27. Green Plains has a 12 month low of $19.44 and a 12 month high of $36.02.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $712.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.01 million. Green Plains had a negative net margin of 2.83% and a negative return on equity of 9.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.66) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Green Plains will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

About Green Plains

Green Plains Inc produces low-carbon fuels in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Ethanol Production, Agribusiness and Energy Services, and Partnership. The Ethanol Production segment produces ethanol, distillers grains, and ultra-high protein and renewable corn oil.