Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ:CENT) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $41.57 and last traded at $41.4780, with a volume of 30920 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $39.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on CENT. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Central Garden & Pet in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Central Garden & Pet from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Central Garden & Pet Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.85. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 3.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $906.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $846.58 million. Central Garden & Pet had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 5.42%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. Central Garden & Pet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.700- EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Central Garden & Pet Company will post 2.83 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 1.5% during the second 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. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 43,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,399,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd grew its stake in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 7.6% during the first quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 8,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 4.8% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 16.13% of the company’s stock.

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.