Highbridge Capital Management LLC Sells 26,291 Shares of Central Garden & Pet Company $CENTA

Highbridge Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ:CENTA) by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 464,843 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,291 shares during the quarter. Highbridge Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.74% of Central Garden & Pet worth $13,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Central Garden & Pet by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,174,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,034,000 after buying an additional 73,755 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Central Garden & Pet by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,749,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,751,000 after buying an additional 167,901 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 209.2% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,384,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,888,000 after buying an additional 936,852 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 3.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 941,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,454,000 after buying an additional 30,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 13.9% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 861,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,956,000 after acquiring an additional 105,209 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Central Garden & Pet

In other Central Garden & Pet news, Director Brendan Dougher sold 3,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.38, for a total value of $108,485.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,845 shares in the company, valued at $428,766.10. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 20.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Central Garden & Pet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Central Garden & Pet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised several near‑term and multi‑year EPS estimates for CENTA (including Q1/Q2/Q3 2026, Q1–Q3 2027 and FY2026/FY2028), lifting FY2026 to ~2.84 and FY2028 to ~2.95 — these upward revisions improve the company’s earnings trajectory versus prior forecasts and are a likely catalyst for the stock’s gains.
• Positive Sentiment: Central Garden & Pet will participate in investor conferences (J.P. Morgan High Yield & Leveraged Finance Conference on March 3); CFO Brad Smith will appear on a fireside chat and management will take one‑on‑one meetings — increased analyst/investor access can boost sentiment and reduce information uncertainty. Central Garden & Pet to Participate in Investor Conferences
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reporting for February shows anomalous/zero values (a flagged large increase but with 0 shares reported and NaN changes), which appears to be a data glitch — no clear directional pressure from short activity based on the published figures.

Central Garden & Pet Price Performance

Shares of CENTA stock opened at $35.23 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.42. Central Garden & Pet Company has a one year low of $25.97 and a one year high of $37.35. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 3.42 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $617.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.62 million. Central Garden & Pet had a return on equity of 10.99% and a net margin of 5.04%.Central Garden & Pet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.700- EPS. On average, analysts expect that Central Garden & Pet Company will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Central Garden & Pet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Central Garden & Pet to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 price objective (down previously from $31.00) on shares of Central Garden & Pet in a research report on Friday, January 16th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Central Garden & Pet in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, CJS Securities raised Central Garden & Pet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.75.

About Central Garden & Pet

Central Garden & Pet Co is a leading producer, marketer and distributor of branded consumable gardening products and pet supplies in North America. Headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, the company serves both retail and wholesale customers through a network of distribution centers across the United States and Canada. Operating under the ticker symbol CENTA on the NASDAQ exchange, Central Garden & Pet has been publicly traded since 2003.

The company’s Garden segment offers a broad portfolio of lawn and garden care solutions, including fertilizers, weed and pest control products, soil and mulch, and plant care accessories.