Brokerages Set Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) Target Price at $13.14

Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.1429.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GPRE shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Green Plains from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Green Plains from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Green Plains from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Green Plains from $7.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Green Plains from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th.

Green Plains Trading Up 8.7%

Shares of GPRE opened at $16.70 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.79. Green Plains has a 52-week low of $3.14 and a 52-week high of $16.79. The company has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.84, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.46.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.10. Green Plains had a negative return on equity of 8.70% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The company had revenue of $428.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $536.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.86) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Green Plains will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Green Plains by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 880,217 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $8,626,000 after buying an additional 216,875 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Green Plains during the fourth quarter worth $100,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Green Plains during the fourth quarter valued at $116,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL boosted its holdings in Green Plains by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 417,256 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,089,000 after acquiring an additional 36,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Numerai GP LLC bought a new position in Green Plains in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,062,000.

Green Plains Company Profile

Green Plains Inc is a leading producer of fuel-grade ethanol and related co-products in the United States. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, the company operates an integrated network of biorefineries that convert corn and other grains into renewable fuels. Through its production facilities, Green Plains supplies ethanol to domestic fuel markets and export channels, supporting efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote cleaner-burning transportation options.

Beyond ethanol, Green Plains manufactures a range of co-products that add value throughout the agricultural supply chain.