Brokerages Set Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) Target Price at $20.50

Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.50.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective (down previously from $18.00) on shares of Green Plains in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Green Plains from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stephens raised shares of Green Plains to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Green Plains from $13.00 to $8.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $20.50 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Green Plains

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPRE. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 433.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,344 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 2,717 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Green Plains in the third quarter valued at about $52,000. Dauntless Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Green Plains in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Green Plains by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,071 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 3,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in Green Plains by 340.6% during the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 7,050 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 5,450 shares during the period.

Green Plains Stock Down 2.7 %

GPRE opened at $5.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $371.54 million, a PE ratio of -4.22 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.60. Green Plains has a twelve month low of $4.87 and a twelve month high of $24.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.86) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.64). Green Plains had a negative return on equity of 11.88% and a negative net margin of 3.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Green Plains will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.