Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $11.93.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GPRE shares. Bank of America lowered shares of Green Plains from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $10.00 to $4.50 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group lowered shares of Green Plains from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $20.50 to $7.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Green Plains from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $14.00 to $6.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Green Plains

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Green Plains by 433.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,344 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 2,717 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Green Plains by 54.6% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,503 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 3,002 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Green Plains by 115.2% in the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 4,808 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Green Plains by 2,313.4% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 9,340 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 8,953 shares during the period. Finally, WealthPlan Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Green Plains during the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000.

Green Plains Price Performance

GPRE traded up $0.23 on Friday, reaching $5.81. 2,947,816 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,450,856. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $379.97 million, a PE ratio of -4.27 and a beta of 1.12. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $4.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.47. Green Plains has a twelve month low of $3.14 and a twelve month high of $18.14.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE - Get Free Report) last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $601.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $605.62 million. Green Plains had a negative net margin of 3.36% and a negative return on equity of 11.88%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.81) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Green Plains will post -0.5 EPS for the current year.

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.