Central Garden & Pet Company $CENT Position Boosted by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ:CENT) by 59.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 181,787 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,800 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.29% of Central Garden & Pet worth $6,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CENT. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 632.3% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Central Garden & Pet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Central Garden & Pet by 1,532.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 1,732 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 152.3% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 1,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Central Garden & Pet during the 3rd quarter worth about $94,000. Institutional investors own 16.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on CENT shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Central Garden & Pet from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded Central Garden & Pet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Central Garden & Pet from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Central Garden & Pet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Central Garden & Pet Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ CENT opened at $44.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 3.45 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.90. Central Garden & Pet Company has a 12 month low of $28.77 and a 12 month high of $45.78. The company has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03 and a beta of 0.61.

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $906.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $846.58 million. Central Garden & Pet had a net margin of 5.42% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Central Garden & Pet Company will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Central Garden & Pet 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.