Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Green Plains, Inc. $GPRE

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) by 91.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 140,816 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,504,917 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.21% of Green Plains worth $683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GPRE. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Green Plains during the first quarter worth approximately $8,860,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Green Plains by 424.8% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 804,175 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $7,624,000 after acquiring an additional 650,937 shares during the period. Lumbard & Kellner LLC increased its position in shares of Green Plains by 159.4% during the first quarter. Lumbard & Kellner LLC now owns 740,323 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,591,000 after acquiring an additional 454,882 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC increased its position in shares of Green Plains by 340.4% during the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 511,295 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,847,000 after acquiring an additional 395,195 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Green Plains during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,807,000.

Green Plains Stock Performance

Shares of GPRE stock opened at $11.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $728.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.63 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day moving average is $7.90 and its 200 day moving average is $5.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Green Plains, Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.14 and a 52-week high of $14.67.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by ($0.13). Green Plains had a negative return on equity of 13.65% and a negative net margin of 6.34%.The firm had revenue of $552.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $578.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.38) earnings per share. Green Plains’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Green Plains, Inc. will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPRE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Green Plains to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Green Plains from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Green Plains from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 price objective (up from $4.50) on shares of Green Plains in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.83.

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.