Insider Selling: Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) Insider Sells $192,500.00 in Stock

Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ:CENT) insider John Walker III sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.50, for a total value of $192,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 64,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,490,141.50. This trade represents a 7.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Central Garden & Pet Stock Performance

Shares of Central Garden & Pet stock opened at $43.73 on Friday. Central Garden & Pet Company has a 52 week low of $28.77 and a 52 week high of $46.97. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.54. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 3.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $883.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $882.96 million. Central Garden & Pet had a return on equity of 11.13% and a net margin of 5.39%.The company’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. Central Garden & Pet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.850- EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Central Garden & Pet Company will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Central Garden & Pet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Central Garden & Pet by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 25,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $897,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 43,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,399,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 7.6% in the first quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 8,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 4.8% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CENT. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Central Garden & Pet from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Central Garden & Pet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Central Garden & Pet from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Central Garden & Pet Company Profile

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ: CENT) is a leading North American specialty retailer, manufacturer and distributor serving the lawn and garden and pet supplies markets. The company operates through two primary segments: Pet and Garden. In the Pet segment, Central Garden & Pet offers a comprehensive range of products including pet food, treats, accessories, training products and habitat solutions for dogs, cats, birds, fish and small animals. The Garden segment encompasses a wide array of lawn, garden and outdoor living products, such as soils, fertilizers, planters, pest control solutions, landscape lighting and watering equipment.

Central Garden & Pet’s product portfolio includes both proprietary and branded offerings.