Gates Industrial Corp PLC (NYSE:GTES) Short Interest Up 7.3% in March

Gates Industrial Corp PLC (NYSE:GTES) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,780,000 shares, an increase of 7.3% from the March 15th total of 7,250,000 shares. Currently, 4.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,000,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Insider Transactions at Gates Industrial

In other Gates Industrial news, Director Wilson S. Neely acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $13.24 per share, for a total transaction of $132,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 56,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $750,231.36. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Blackstone Inc. sold 24,276,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.04, for a total value of $292,284,244.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 107,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,180.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Wilson S. Neely acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.24 per share, for a total transaction of $132,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 56,664 shares in the company, valued at $750,231.36. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 1,030,492 shares of company stock valued at $12,582,402 in the last ninety days. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gates Industrial

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Gates Industrial during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Gates Industrial by 207.3% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,588 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gates Industrial in the first quarter valued at about $45,000. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Gates Industrial during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Gates Industrial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $51,000. 98.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GTES. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Gates Industrial from $12.50 to $14.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Gates Industrial in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Gates Industrial from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Gates Industrial from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Gates Industrial from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $18.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.00.

Gates Industrial Stock Performance

Shares of GTES remained flat at $17.34 during trading hours on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 809,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,870,292. Gates Industrial has a twelve month low of $10.68 and a twelve month high of $17.86. The company has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.40 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 2.25 and a current ratio of 3.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.52.

Gates Industrial (NYSE:GTES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.10. Gates Industrial had a return on equity of 10.14% and a net margin of 6.52%. The company had revenue of $863.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $892.40 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Gates Industrial will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Gates Industrial

Gates Industrial Corporation PLC designs and manufactures power transmission equipment. Its products serves harsh and hazardous industries such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing and energy, to everyday consumer applications such as printers, power washers, automatic doors and vacuum cleaners and virtually every form of transportation.