MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) Lowered to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MGPI. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on MGP Ingredients from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of MGP Ingredients in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of MGP Ingredients from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of MGP Ingredients from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.25.

MGP Ingredients Stock Performance

NASDAQ MGPI opened at $24.55 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.61. MGP Ingredients has a twelve month low of $21.67 and a twelve month high of $38.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $522.67 million, a PE ratio of -36.64 and a beta of 0.37.

MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.23. MGP Ingredients had a negative net margin of 2.56% and a positive return on equity of 9.65%. The business had revenue of $130.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $128.33 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. MGP Ingredients has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.600-2.750 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MGP Ingredients will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MGP Ingredients

In other news, Director Karen Seaberg sold 81,616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.84, for a total transaction of $2,108,957.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 35,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $911,764.40. The trade was a 69.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Caroline Lux Kaplan sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.85, for a total transaction of $715,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 560,958 shares in the company, valued at $13,378,848.30. This trade represents a 5.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 334,535 shares of company stock valued at $8,224,668 over the last ninety days. 34.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MGP Ingredients

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MGP Ingredients by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,222,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,576,000 after buying an additional 99,995 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of MGP Ingredients by 32.8% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 987,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,879,000 after acquiring an additional 243,909 shares during the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of MGP Ingredients by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 719,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,553,000 after acquiring an additional 93,086 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in MGP Ingredients by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 400,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,015,000 after purchasing an additional 46,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in MGP Ingredients by 116.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 359,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,571,000 after purchasing an additional 193,660 shares during the period. 77.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MGP Ingredients Company Profile

MGP Ingredients, Inc (NASDAQ: MGPI) is a leading producer of distilled spirits and specialty ingredient solutions for the food, beverage and consumer products industries. Headquartered in Atchison, Kansas, the company operates two main facilities—its historic Atchison plant, founded in 1941 as Midwest Grain Products, and a modern distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. MGP Ingredients supplies an array of distillation products under its beverage and ingredient segments, serving brand owners, private-label producers and co-packers worldwide.

The beverage segment features a broad portfolio of premium spirits, including bourbon and rye whiskies, vodka, gin and neutral spirits.