Short Interest in Gates Industrial Corp PLC (NYSE:GTES) Expands By 14.0%

Gates Industrial Corp PLC (NYSE:GTES) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,990,000 shares, an increase of 14.0% from the May 15th total of 9,640,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 5.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gates Industrial news, major shareholder Blackstone Inc. sold 20,125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.33, for a total transaction of $328,641,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 77,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,262,733.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gates Industrial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Gates Industrial in the 1st quarter worth about $203,000. KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gates Industrial by 59.2% in the 1st quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 1,077,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,083,000 after acquiring an additional 400,732 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in Gates Industrial in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,761,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Gates Industrial by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 53,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $945,000 after buying an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Gates Industrial by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 171,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,031,000 after buying an additional 23,291 shares during the period. 98.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gates Industrial Stock Down 2.8 %

GTES traded down $0.46 during trading on Friday, hitting $16.08. The company had a trading volume of 2,324,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,448,927. The company has a market cap of $4.20 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.09 and a 200-day moving average of $15.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 3.06 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Gates Industrial has a 1-year low of $10.68 and a 1-year high of $17.99.

Gates Industrial (NYSE:GTES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $862.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.00 million. Gates Industrial had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 10.52%. As a group, analysts forecast that Gates Industrial will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GTES. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Gates Industrial from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Gates Industrial in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Gates Industrial from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Gates Industrial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Gates Industrial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gates Industrial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.13.

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.