Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE)

Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 5,881 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 451% compared to the average daily volume of 1,068 call options.

Institutional Trading of Green Plains

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in Green Plains by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,910,245 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $52,945,000 after purchasing an additional 111,501 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Green Plains during the 3rd quarter valued at $155,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Green Plains by 71.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 142,851 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,935,000 after buying an additional 59,564 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 1,207.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,032 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 12,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Green Plains by 1,122.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 704,125 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,675,000 after acquiring an additional 646,507 shares in the last quarter.

Green Plains Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GPRE opened at $3.62 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $5.28 and a 200 day moving average of $8.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $234.32 million, a P/E ratio of -2.66 and a beta of 1.20. Green Plains has a 12 month low of $3.26 and a 12 month high of $22.75.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.86) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.64). Green Plains had a negative return on equity of 11.88% and a negative net margin of 3.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Green Plains will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GPRE. Bank of America lowered shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $4.50 in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group downgraded shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $20.50 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (down previously from $18.00) on shares of Green Plains in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Green Plains from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Green Plains currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.50.

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.