Swiss National Bank Buys 14,400 Shares of Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE)

Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE – Get Rating) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 142,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,400 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Green Plains were worth $4,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 9,066 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 4,517 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 5,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 82,288 shares during the last quarter.

Green Plains Price Performance

NASDAQ:GPRE opened at $30.93 on Friday. Green Plains Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.33 and a 52 week high of $41.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.89 and a beta of 1.73. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by ($0.83). The firm had revenue of $832.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $823.35 million. Green Plains had a negative net margin of 3.66% and a negative return on equity of 14.94%. Green Plains’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($1.16) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Green Plains Inc. will post -0.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Todd A. Becker sold 20,000 shares of Green Plains stock in a transaction on Friday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.18, for a total value of $623,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 731,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,822,731.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Brian Peterson sold 33,641 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total value of $1,004,520.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 32,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $968,270.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Todd A. Becker sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.18, for a total value of $623,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 731,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,822,731.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 123,641 shares of company stock worth $3,773,270 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPRE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Green Plains in a research note on Friday, May 12th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Craig Hallum raised their target price on shares of Green Plains from $44.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Green Plains in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Green Plains in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.17.

Green Plains Profile

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Green Plains, Inc engages in the production of fuel-grade ethanol and corn oil, the provision of grain handling, and storage commodity marketing and distribution services. It operates through the following segments: Ethanol Production, Agribusiness and Energy Services, and Partnership. The Ethanol Production segment produces ethanol, distillers’ grain, and corn oil at ethanol plants in Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Texas.