Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE - Free Report) by 66.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,463 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 56,850 shares during the quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC's holdings in Green Plains were worth $270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Green Plains by 433.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,344 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 2,717 shares during the period. Dauntless Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Green Plains during the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Green Plains by 340.6% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 7,050 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 5,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Green Plains in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPRE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered Green Plains from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $20.50 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Green Plains from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Green Plains from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Green Plains from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Green Plains from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $4.50 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Green Plains currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $11.93.

Green Plains Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of GPRE traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $5.23. The company had a trading volume of 1,611,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,403,848. Green Plains Inc. has a 1 year low of $3.14 and a 1 year high of $19.80. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $4.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.57. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $342.04 million, a P/E ratio of -3.85 and a beta of 1.19.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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%. Green Plains's revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.81) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Green Plains Inc. will post -0.5 EPS for the current year.

Green Plains 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.