Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on GPRE. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Green Plains in a report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Green Plains in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Green Plains in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.43.

Green Plains Stock Up 1.5%

GPRE opened at $15.07 on Monday. Green Plains has a 52 week low of $8.65 and a 52 week high of $19.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $15.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 1.16.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $446.22 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $542.38 million. Green Plains had a return on equity of 14.52% and a net margin of 6.78%.During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.09) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Green Plains will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Green Plains

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Green Plains during the second quarter worth $156,703,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Green Plains by 9.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,643,651 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,039,000 after acquiring an additional 145,741 shares during the period. Thomist Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Green Plains during the 2nd quarter worth $19,542,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Green Plains by 155.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,114,743 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $18,338,000 after purchasing an additional 678,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Green Plains by 112.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 966,069 shares in the last quarter.

Green Plains Company Profile

Green Plains Inc (NASDAQ: GPRE) is an agtech and biorefining company that converts sustainably sourced agricultural commodities, primarily corn, into value-added products. Its operations produce renewable ethanol, which is used as a transportation fuel and fuel additive, along with distillers grains and other feed ingredients for livestock and poultry markets.

The company also produces renewable corn oil for feed and fuel applications and develops higher-protein ingredients designed for animal nutrition and other specialty markets.