Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) Shares Up 0.6% – Here’s Why

Alto Ingredients, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTO) shares shot up 0.6% on Friday. The stock traded as high as $3.64 and last traded at $3.61. 801,824 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the average session volume of 983,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ALTO shares. Benchmark upgraded Alto Ingredients to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Zacks Research cut Alto Ingredients from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alto Ingredients in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Scotiabank set a $10.00 target price on Alto Ingredients in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Alto Ingredients in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alto Ingredients has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

Alto Ingredients Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $3.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.66. The firm has a market cap of $280.03 million, a PE ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 0.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 2.17.

Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $245.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.24 million. Alto Ingredients had a net margin of 5.51% and a return on equity of 18.54%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alto Ingredients, Inc. will post 0.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gilbert Nathan acquired 10,000 shares of Alto Ingredients stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $3.93 per share, for a total transaction of $39,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 866,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,404,924.49. This represents a 1.17% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its stake in Alto Ingredients by 33.8% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 24,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 6,075 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Alto Ingredients in the second quarter valued at approximately $156,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Alto Ingredients in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,527,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Alto Ingredients during the second quarter worth approximately $112,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Alto Ingredients during the second quarter worth approximately $243,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alto Ingredients Company Profile

Alto Ingredients, Inc (NASDAQ:ALTO) is a renewable fuels and specialty ingredients company that produces low-carbon ethanol and other products derived primarily from corn. Its ethanol is used as a transportation fuel and as a blending component in gasoline, while the company’s operations support markets focused on renewable energy and lower-carbon fuel alternatives.

In addition to ethanol, Alto Ingredients produces and markets co-products such as dried distillers grains, wet distillers grains and renewable corn oil.