Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Reduces Stock Position in Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its holdings in Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) by 91.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,618 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 646,507 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.09% of Green Plains worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Green Plains by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 36,491 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 1,596 shares during the last quarter. Diametric Capital LP increased its holdings in Green Plains by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Diametric Capital LP now owns 22,890 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 2,388 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in Green Plains by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 11,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 2,503 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Green Plains by 433.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,344 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 2,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Green Plains by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 65,154 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 2,900 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Green Plains from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $4.50 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $20.50 to $7.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.93.

Green Plains Price Performance

Shares of GPRE opened at $5.65 on Friday. Green Plains, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3.14 and a fifty-two week high of $18.14. The company has a market capitalization of $369.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.34 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.51) by ($0.37). Green Plains had a negative return on equity of 12.76% and a negative net margin of 4.22%. The business had revenue of $601.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $605.62 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.81) EPS. Green Plains’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Green Plains, Inc. will post -0.5 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.