Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Green Plains, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $14.00 to $15.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Green Plains traded as high as $16.85 and last traded at $16.70, with a volume of 229424 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $16.19.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on GPRE. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Green Plains from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Green Plains from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research raised Green Plains from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Green Plains from $7.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Stephens raised Green Plains from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $10.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.29.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Green Plains during the third quarter worth $8,561,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $17,873,000 after acquiring an additional 966,069 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Green Plains by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,696,401 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $46,025,000 after acquiring an additional 645,170 shares during the period. Thomist Capital Management LP raised its stake in Green Plains by 619.8% in the 4th quarter. Thomist Capital Management LP now owns 747,192 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $7,270,000 after acquiring an additional 643,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Green Plains by 56.2% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,604,915 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $15,728,000 after acquiring an additional 577,489 shares during the last quarter.

Green Plains Trading Up 2.4%

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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.45. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.94, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.46.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $428.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $536.56 million. Green Plains had a negative return on equity of 8.70% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The company’s revenue was down 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.86) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Green Plains, Inc. will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.