Analysts Set Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) Price Target at $10.00

Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.00.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GPRE shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Green Plains in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Roth Capital downgraded Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Green Plains to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Green Plains from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Green Plains from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th.

Insider Activity at Green Plains

In related news, insider Michelle Mapes sold 30,954 shares of Green Plains stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.51, for a total transaction of $294,372.54. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 60,558 shares in the company, valued at $575,906.58. The trade was a 33.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Green Plains

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPRE. Rafferty Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Green Plains in the 3rd quarter worth about $924,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Green Plains during the third quarter worth about $549,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Green Plains by 8.5% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,547 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 2,245 shares in the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Green Plains in the third quarter worth about $868,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of Green Plains by 263.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 457,280 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,019,000 after purchasing an additional 331,326 shares in the last quarter.

Green Plains Trading Down 5.1%

Shares of GPRE opened at $9.77 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.77. Green Plains has a twelve month low of $3.14 and a twelve month high of $12.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $682.29 million, a P/E ratio of -4.07 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.48. The company had revenue of $508.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $583.55 million. Green Plains had a negative net margin of 6.34% and a negative return on equity of 13.65%. Green Plains’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Green Plains will post -0.5 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.