Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ:CENT) Shares Bought by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ:CENT) by 4.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 244,542 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,162 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.47% of Central Garden & Pet worth $9,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Central Garden & Pet by 8.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,322,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,022,000 after buying an additional 106,439 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Central Garden & Pet by 2.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,019,397 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,789,000 after buying an additional 26,199 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in Central Garden & Pet by 7.6% in the first quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 838,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,099,000 after buying an additional 59,091 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Central Garden & Pet by 66.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 501,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,582,000 after buying an additional 200,400 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Central Garden & Pet by 14.3% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 476,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,649,000 after buying an additional 59,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.20% of the company’s stock.

Shares of Central Garden & Pet Company (CENT) traded down 1.93% on Wednesday, hitting $31.55. 50,120 shares of the stock were exchanged. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of 26.03 and a beta of 0.12. Central Garden & Pet Company has a one year low of $22.97 and a one year high of $39.33. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $32.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.93.

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $570 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $572.37 million. Central Garden & Pet had a net margin of 3.27% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Central Garden & Pet Company will post $1.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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A number of research analysts have recently commented on CENT shares. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Central Garden & Pet from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. CL King started coverage on shares of Central Garden & Pet in a research report on Friday, July 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Sidoti raised shares of Central Garden & Pet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 19th. BidaskClub raised shares of Central Garden & Pet from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Central Garden & Pet in a research report on Tuesday, June 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.50.

In other news, insider Michael A. Reed sold 15,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.21, for a total value of $501,703.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 142,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,734,351.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John Ranelli sold 3,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.33, for a total transaction of $90,923.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 110,668 shares in the company, valued at $3,245,892.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 82,382 shares of company stock valued at $2,613,603. 11.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Central Garden & Pet

Central Garden & Pet Company is a marketer and producer of branded products and distributor of third party products in the pet and lawn and garden supplies industries in the United States. The Company operates in two segments: Pet segment and the Garden segment. It is a marketer and producer of pet supplies in the United States.