Green Plains Inc (GPRE): What You Have To Know Before Buying For The Upcoming Dividend

Willa Russo
Updated

If you are interested in cashing in on Green Plains Inc’s (NASDAQ:GPRE) upcoming dividend of $0.12 per share, you only have 3 days left to buy the shares before its ex-dividend date, 24 November 2017, in time for dividends payable on the 15 December 2017. Investors looking for higher income-generating stocks to add to their portfolio should keep reading, as I examine GPRE’s latest financial data to analyse its dividend characteristics. See our latest analysis for GPRE

How I analyze a dividend stock

If you are a dividend investor, you should always assess these five key metrics:

  • Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies?

  • Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?

  • Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?

  • Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?

  • Will it have the ability to keep paying its dividends going forward?

NasdaqGS:GPRE Historical Dividend Yield Nov 21st 17
NasdaqGS:GPRE Historical Dividend Yield Nov 21st 17

How well does Green Plains fit our criteria?

Green Plains has a payout ratio of 57.40%, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting a higher payout ratio of 69.90%, leading to a dividend yield of 3.08%. However, EPS is forecasted to fall to $0.59 in the upcoming year. Therefore, although payout is expected to increase, the fall in earnings may not equate to higher dividend income. If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you’re eyeing out is reliable in its payments. Unfortunately, it is really too early to view Green Plains as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 4 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record. Relative to peers, GPRE has a yield of 2.94%, which is on the low-side for oil, gas and consumable fuels stocks.

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? Whilst there are few things you may like about Green Plains from a dividend stock perspective, the truth is that overall it probably is not the best choice for a dividend investor. It may be valuable exploring other dividend stocks as alternatives to GPRE or even look at high-growth stocks to complement your steady income stocks. I suggest continuing your research by checking out my interactive free list of dividend rockstars as well as high-growth stocks to potentially add to your holdings.

Are you a potential investor? If you are building an income portfolio, then Green Plains is a complicated choice since it has some positive aspects as well as negative ones. But if you are not exclusively a dividend investor, GPRE could still be an interesting investment opportunity. As with all investments, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company’s fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. Dig deeping in our latest free fundmental analysis to explore other aspects of GPRE.


To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.