Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $11.93.

GPRE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Green Plains from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Green Plains from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Green Plains from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $14.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group cut Green Plains from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $20.50 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut Green Plains from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $10.00 to $4.50 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th.

Green Plains Price Performance

Green Plains stock traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $4.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,139,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,411,647. Green Plains has a fifty-two week low of $3.14 and a fifty-two week high of $18.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $4.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $275.33 million, a PE ratio of -3.10 and a beta of 1.19.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.88) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.51) by ($0.37). Green Plains had a negative net margin of 3.36% and a negative return on equity of 11.88%. The business had revenue of $601.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $605.62 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.81) EPS. Green Plains's revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Green Plains will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Green Plains

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPRE. Barclays PLC increased its position in Green Plains by 71.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 142,851 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,935,000 after purchasing an additional 59,564 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Green Plains by 1,122.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 704,125 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $6,675,000 after purchasing an additional 646,507 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Green Plains by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 37,479 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,488 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in Green Plains by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 46,241 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 13,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Green Plains by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,071 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 3,320 shares in the last quarter.

Green Plains Company Profile

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.