MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. TD Cowen decreased their target price on MGP Ingredients from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of MGP Ingredients from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of MGP Ingredients in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.25.

MGP Ingredients Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MGPI opened at $24.76 on Friday. MGP Ingredients has a 1 year low of $21.67 and a 1 year high of $38.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $527.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.96 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.68.

MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.23. MGP Ingredients had a positive return on equity of 9.65% and a negative net margin of 2.56%.The firm had revenue of $130.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $128.33 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. MGP Ingredients has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.600-2.750 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MGP Ingredients will post 5.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MGP Ingredients Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. MGP Ingredients’s payout ratio is presently -71.64%.

Insider Activity at MGP Ingredients

In related news, Director Karen Seaberg sold 181,095 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.24, for a total value of $4,389,742.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 37,417 shares in the company, valued at $906,988.08. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Caroline Lux Kaplan sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.85, for a total value of $715,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 560,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,378,848.30. The trade was a 5.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 334,535 shares of company stock valued at $8,224,668. Corporate insiders own 34.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MGP Ingredients

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of MGP Ingredients by 130.3% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 935 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in MGP Ingredients by 278.9% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,386 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in MGP Ingredients by 89.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,332 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in MGP Ingredients by 382.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 3,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MGP Ingredients in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $96,000. Institutional investors own 77.11% of the company’s stock.

About MGP Ingredients

MGP Ingredients, Inc (NASDAQ: MGPI) is a leading producer of distilled spirits and specialty ingredient solutions for the food, beverage and consumer products industries. Headquartered in Atchison, Kansas, the company operates two main facilities—its historic Atchison plant, founded in 1941 as Midwest Grain Products, and a modern distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. MGP Ingredients supplies an array of distillation products under its beverage and ingredient segments, serving brand owners, private-label producers and co-packers worldwide.

The beverage segment features a broad portfolio of premium spirits, including bourbon and rye whiskies, vodka, gin and neutral spirits.