Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.40.

GPRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Green Plains in a research report on Monday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Green Plains from $39.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Green Plains from $33.50 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. TheStreet lowered shares of Green Plains from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Green Plains in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th.

Insider Activity at Green Plains

In other news, Director Ejnar A. Knudsen III purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $24.73 per share, with a total value of $98,920.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 40,913 shares in the company, valued at $1,011,778.49. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPRE. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Green Plains during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Green Plains by 8,023.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Green Plains during the 1st quarter valued at $46,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in Green Plains by 39.2% during the 1st quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 1,915 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new position in Green Plains during the 3rd quarter valued at $81,000.

Green Plains Stock Performance

Shares of GPRE stock opened at $21.14 on Friday. Green Plains has a one year low of $19.44 and a one year high of $36.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.05 and a beta of 1.60.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.04). Green Plains had a negative return on equity of 9.67% and a negative net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $712.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.01 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.66) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Green Plains will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

About Green Plains

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.