There was a discernible increase in the number of short positions in the Central Garden & Pet Company during December (NASDAQ: CENTA). There were 672,600 shares borrowed one month before December 15, representing a 16.9% increase over the 786,200 shares that were borrowed as of December 15. The days-to-cover ratio is currently at 4.8 days, which is derived from the fact that an average of 165,500 shares are traded daily. A total of two zero percent of the company’s shares are traded in the short market.
On November 21, the most recent quarterly earnings report that was made public for Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ: CENTA) was made available. The actual profit that the company made per share for the quarter was $0.04, which was $0.03 less than the estimates that market experts had made of $0.07 per share for the profit that the company would make. Nevertheless, the results of Central Garden & Pet were extremely satisfying, as shown by the company’s respectable net margin of 4.56% and equity return of 11.68%. In addition, the performance of the company was very well received. The actual revenue for the quarter came in at $707.44 million, which is significantly lower than the forecasted figure of $724.45 million that market analysts provided. According to the projections of analysts who work on the sell side, Central Garden & Pet will bring in $2.65 in earnings per share this year.
On Friday, during trading hours, an average of 176,687 CENTA shares were traded, which resulted in the price falling by $0.33 and the overall value reaching $35.80. The company’s current market capitalization value is 1.94 billion dollars, its price-to-earnings ratio is 12.88, and its beta value is 0.63. The price of a share of Central Garden & Pet has been as low as $33.69 over the past year, while it has reached a high of $48.63 during that same period. There is a ratio of 0.89 dollars of equity to every dollar’s worth of current assets and 3.34 dollars of current assets to every dollar’s worth of liquid assets, respectively. The price of the stock’s moving average over the past 50 days comes in at $38.25, and the price of the stock’s moving average over the past 200 days comes in at $38.45.
Recent research on CENTA has been focused on by various research companies, each of which has conducted its study. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Central Garden & Pet from $37.00 to $40.00 and assigned the company a “neutral” rating in a research report published on November 22. TheStreet lowered its rating of Central Garden & Pet shares from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report published on November 21. The report was issued in the United States. A “hold” recommendation instead of a “buy” recommendation was issued for Central Garden & Pet by StockNews.com on October 19, 2013, after the website had previously issued a “buy” recommendation. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Central Garden & Pet shares from $52.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report published on Tuesday, November 22. Three financial analysts have given the company a recommendation to purchase the company’s stock, while only two have recommended that investors hold on to their shares. According to Bloomberg, the stock has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy,” and its price objective has been set at a consensus of $49.50. In addition, the price target has been set at a consensus of $49.50.
John D. Walker III, a company management team member, sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock on December 1. As a result, another bit of information about Central Garden & Pet has been recently discovered. There was a total volume of sales amounting to $131,682.00, which resulted in the shares being bought and sold at an average price of $38.73 per share. As a result of the transaction, the company insider now owns 88,272 shares of the company with a total market value of $3,418,774.56.Access to the legal file that details the transaction’s disclosure can be gained through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) website. This file can be found on the website. In addition, individuals employed by the company hold 20.28% of the company’s shares.
There was both an increase and a decrease in the amount of CENTA held by hedge funds over the most recent period. BlackRock Inc. increased the amount of Central Garden & Pet stock owned by 1.7% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now has 7,362,931 shares, valued at $251,517,000, after purchasing an additional 120,910 shares during the most recent quarter. During the first quarter, Vanguard Group Inc. increased the number of shares it owned in Central Garden & Pet by 1.7%, bringing the total number of shares it owned in the company to 100%. As a result of the acquisition of 72,345 shares during the most recent quarter, Vanguard Group Inc. now directly owns 4,371,134 shares of the company’s stock, which have a value of $178,254,000. These shares were acquired to bring the total number directly owned by the company to 4,371,134. During the third quarter, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP accomplished a 2.8% increase in the number of Central Garden & Pet shares it possessed. Following the acquisition of 67,104 additional shares during the most recent fiscal quarter, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now holds 2,495,181 shares in its portfolio. There is a value of $85,236,000 attached to these shares. In the third quarter, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased the proportion of shares of Central Garden & Pet held in its portfolio by 43%. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns a total of 1,753,406 shares of the company, which have a value of $59,897,000, after purchasing an additional 527,216 shares during the most recent quarter. This brings the total number of shares owned by the company to 1,753,406. Westwood Holdings Group Inc., not to be outdone, increased its holdings in Central Garden & Pet by 4.0 percent during the first three months of this year. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now has 1,526,429 shares following the purchase of an additional 58,677 in the most recent quarter. The value of Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s stock holdings is $62,248,000. Hedge funds and other types of institutional investors hold a total of 69.21% of the company’s market capitalization.
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