Green Dot Corporation (NYSE:GDOT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Green Dot Corporation (NYSE:GDOT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.5625.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GDOT shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Green Dot from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 22nd. Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Green Dot in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Green Dot in a report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Green Dot Price Performance

NYSE GDOT opened at $11.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $616.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.23 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.32. Green Dot has a 52-week low of $6.59 and a 52-week high of $15.41.

Green Dot (NYSE:GDOT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The financial services provider reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.04. Green Dot had a negative net margin of 4.75% and a positive return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $519.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $508.09 million. Analysts anticipate that Green Dot will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Green Dot

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Green Dot during the fourth quarter worth about $286,000. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC grew its stake in Green Dot by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC now owns 209,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,680,000 after purchasing an additional 9,099 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in Green Dot by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 37,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 3,123 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of Green Dot by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 81,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 7,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VARCOV Co. bought a new stake in shares of Green Dot during the 4th quarter worth approximately $258,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.56% of the company’s stock.

About Green Dot

Green Dot Corporation (NYSE: GDOT) is a financial technology and bank holding company that provides prepaid debit cards, cash reload processing services and consumer banking products through its subsidiary, Green Dot Bank. The firm offers reloadable prepaid cards under its own brand and through partnerships with retailers, payments networks and banks. In addition to consumer-focused prepaid card accounts, Green Dot delivers payroll card services, government disbursement programs and B2B payment solutions that enable businesses to distribute funds digitally to end users.

Founded in 1999 by Steve Streit and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Green Dot began as a prepaid MasterCard provider sold through retail outlets.