Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) Shares Up 4.7%

Shares of Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) shot up 4.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $22.20 and last traded at $22.13. 287,222 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 1,171,727 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.14.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GPRE. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Green Plains in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Green Plains in a report on Monday, March 25th. TheStreet cut Green Plains from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Green Plains from $39.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Green Plains from $33.50 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Green Plains has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.40.

Green Plains Stock Up 5.2 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.05 and a beta of 1.60.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.04). Green Plains had a negative net margin of 2.83% and a negative return on equity of 9.67%. The business had revenue of $712.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.66) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Green Plains Inc. will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Green Plains

In other Green Plains news, Director Ejnar A. Knudsen III bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.73 per share, for a total transaction of $98,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 40,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,011,778.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Green Plains

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GPRE. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 37.7% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 127,032 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 34,787 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 58.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 24,564 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 9,066 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 3.1% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 148,266 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,517 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 14.1% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 46,205 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,433,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 0.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,978,072 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $278,410,000 after purchasing an additional 82,288 shares during the period.

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.