Piper Jaffray Has Buy Rating On Green Plains (GPRE)

Piper Jaffray has a Buy rating and a $16 price target on shares of Green Plains GPRE. In a note sent to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "Green Plains entered into an agreement to acquire Otter Tail Ag Enterprises' 55m gpy dry-mill ethanol plant in Fergus Falls, MN, pending an auction in the next 60 days. We estimate Green Plains offered about $59m ($1.08/gal and 7.9x LTM EBITDA). The transaction is for a 55m gpy dry-mill ethanol plant (Delta-T) in Fergus Falls, MN. The acquisition would increase Green Plains' overall capacity by 8% to 712m gallons. The carrying value of the facility was $86.5m as of Otter Tail's most recent 10Q filed in August. However, recent transactions suggest the purchase price was probably well below its carrying value." Shares of GPRE gained 4 cents yesterday to close at $11.27.