Wells Fargo & Company Cuts MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) Price Target to $17.00

MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $22.00 to $17.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on MGPI. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MGP Ingredients in a report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of MGP Ingredients from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

MGP Ingredients Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of MGPI stock opened at $13.04 on Monday. MGP Ingredients has a fifty-two week low of $12.42 and a fifty-two week high of $26.77. The stock has a market cap of $279.19 million, a P/E ratio of -1.16 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 6.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $124.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.16 million. MGP Ingredients had a negative net margin of 48.08% and a positive return on equity of 7.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. MGP Ingredients has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.500-1.800 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that MGP Ingredients will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MGP Ingredients Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. MGP Ingredients’s dividend payout ratio is currently -4.26%.

Insider Transactions at MGP Ingredients

In other news, insider Paul Lux sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.76, for a total transaction of $586,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 550,458 shares in the company, valued at $9,776,134.08. This represents a 5.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Leslie Lux sold 27,731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.40, for a total transaction of $399,326.40. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 31.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MGP Ingredients

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MGP Ingredients during the 2nd quarter valued at $22,258,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of MGP Ingredients by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 760,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,979,000 after buying an additional 78,849 shares during the period. Tieton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in MGP Ingredients in the second quarter valued at $11,252,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in MGP Ingredients in the first quarter valued at $3,064,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in MGP Ingredients during the first quarter valued at about $2,725,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.11% of the company’s stock.

About MGP Ingredients

MGP Ingredients, Inc (NASDAQ: MGPI) is a food and beverage company headquartered in Atchison, Kansas. The company develops and produces distilled spirits, specialty wheat proteins, and specialty starches for consumer brands, food manufacturers, and other commercial customers.

Through its branded spirits business, MGP offers a portfolio of bourbon, rye whiskey, American whiskey, vodka, gin, and other distilled products. Its brands include Lux Row Distillers’ Ezra Brooks, Daviess County, and Yellowstone Bourbon, as well as Remus Repeal Reserve.