Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Green Plains Call Options (NASDAQ:GPRE)

Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 5,881 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 451% compared to the average daily volume of 1,068 call options.

Institutional Trading of Green Plains

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Green Plains by 433.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Dauntless Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Green Plains during the fourth quarter worth $54,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Green Plains by 120.7% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,071 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 3,320 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Green Plains by 340.6% in the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 7,050 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 5,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of Green Plains in the 4th quarter worth about $72,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on GPRE. Bank of America downgraded shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $10.00 to $4.50 in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group downgraded Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $20.50 to $7.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Green Plains from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $14.00 to $6.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 price target (down previously from $18.00) on shares of Green Plains in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.50.

Green Plains Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GPRE traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $3.58. The stock had a trading volume of 1,722,646 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,364,840. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.88. Green Plains has a twelve month low of $3.26 and a twelve month high of $22.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.63 and a beta of 1.20.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.64). Green Plains had a negative net margin of 3.36% and a negative return on equity of 11.88%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, 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.