Guggenheim Capital LLC Grows Stake in Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE)

Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) by 86.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,199 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,574 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Green Plains were worth $400,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GPRE. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Green Plains by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 37,479 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 1,488 shares during the last quarter. Diametric Capital LP raised its position in Green Plains by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Diametric Capital LP now owns 22,890 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $217,000 after acquiring an additional 2,388 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Green Plains by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 11,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,503 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Green Plains by 433.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,344 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 2,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Green Plains by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 65,154 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered 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 research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America lowered Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $4.50 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of 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. StockNews.com downgraded Green Plains from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Green Plains from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $6.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.50.

Green Plains Price Performance

Shares of Green Plains stock opened at $3.58 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $4.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.30. The stock has a market cap of $231.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.63 and a beta of 1.20. Green Plains Inc. has a twelve month low of $3.14 and a twelve month high of $21.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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 net margin of 3.36% and a negative return on equity of 11.88%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Green Plains Inc. 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.