Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) Shares Down 6.3% – What’s Next?

Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ:CENT) was down 6.3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $43.64 and last traded at $43.63. 76,406 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 78,975 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on CENT. 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 research note on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Central Garden & Pet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Central Garden & Pet from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

Central Garden & Pet Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.79, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a PE ratio of 16.69 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Central Garden & Pet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENT. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Central Garden & Pet during the first quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 39.2% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 259,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,500,000 after buying an additional 72,977 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,891,000 after buying an additional 3,199 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in Central Garden & Pet in the 1st quarter valued at $7,347,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake 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 buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. 16.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Central Garden & Pet

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.