Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) Given New $18.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) had its price objective increased by stock analysts at Oppenheimer from $16.00 to $18.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 10.58% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on GPRE. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Green Plains from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Green Plains from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Stephens upgraded shares of Green Plains from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $10.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Green Plains in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Green Plains from $7.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Green Plains has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.57.

Green Plains Stock Performance

NASDAQ GPRE traded up $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 150,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,559,829. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. Green Plains has a 12 month low of $3.33 and a 12 month high of $17.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $15.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.23.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $428.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $536.56 million. Green Plains had a negative net margin of 5.80% and a negative return on equity of 8.70%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.86) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Green Plains will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Green Plains

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new position in Green Plains during the third quarter worth $3,351,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Green Plains by 263.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 457,280 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,019,000 after buying an additional 331,326 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Green Plains by 825.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 436,228 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,275,000 after buying an additional 389,102 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Green Plains during the third quarter worth $924,000. Finally, Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in Green Plains during the third quarter worth $868,000.

Green Plains Company Profile

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.