Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Green Plains from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Green Plains in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Stephens lifted their target price on Green Plains from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Green Plains in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.29.

Green Plains Stock Up 0.3%

GPRE opened at $15.80 on Monday. Green Plains has a 12 month low of $6.88 and a 12 month high of $18.94. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of -47.88 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $15.79 and a 200 day moving average of $14.34.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.43. The business had revenue of $445.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $532.53 million. Green Plains had a negative net margin of 0.80% and a positive return on equity of 2.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.14) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Green Plains will post 2.1 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Green Plains

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Green Plains by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,696,401 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $46,025,000 after buying an additional 645,170 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Green Plains by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,629,815 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $25,772,000 after buying an additional 85,982 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Green Plains by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,187,541 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,438,000 after acquiring an additional 10,237 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Green Plains by 112.6% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,823,740 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $17,873,000 after acquiring an additional 966,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 73.1% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,686,251 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $16,525,000 after acquiring an additional 712,337 shares in the last quarter.

About Green Plains

Green Plains Inc is a leading producer of fuel-grade ethanol and related co-products in the United States. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, the company operates an integrated network of biorefineries that convert corn and other grains into renewable fuels. Through its production facilities, Green Plains supplies ethanol to domestic fuel markets and export channels, supporting efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote cleaner-burning transportation options.

Beyond ethanol, Green Plains manufactures a range of co-products that add value throughout the agricultural supply chain.