Truist Financial Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE)

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Truist Financial in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $12.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $18.00. Truist Financial’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 79.91% from the company’s previous close.

GPRE has been the subject of several other reports. Stephens raised Green Plains to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Green Plains from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Green Plains from $13.00 to $8.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Green Plains currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.56.

Green Plains Price Performance

NASDAQ:GPRE opened at $6.67 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $431.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.61. Green Plains has a 1-year low of $5.96 and a 1-year high of $24.12.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) last announced its 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 4.81% and a negative net margin of 0.79%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Green Plains will post -1.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Green Plains

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Green Plains by 433.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,344 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 2,717 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Green Plains in the 3rd quarter worth $52,000. Dauntless Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Green Plains in the 4th quarter worth $54,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Green Plains by 120.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,071 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 3,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Green Plains in the 3rd quarter worth $65,000.

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.