Central Garden & Pet (CENT) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. In the pet category, the company markets well-known brands like Kaytee, Kaytee Exact, JW Pet and Redmon, as well as private-label items sold through retail partners. In the garden category, leading brands include BioAdvanced, Vigoro, Zia, Pennington and Boniato, among others. The company’s distribution network spans over 60 facilities across the United States and Canada, enabling it to supply independent garden centers, mass merchandisers, home improvement chains, e-commerce outlets and feed stores.

Founded in 1960 and headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, Central Garden & Pet has grown through a combination of organic expansion and strategic acquisitions. The company’s history of targeted acquisitions has broadened its product offerings and geographic reach, while maintaining a focus on innovation, customer service and supply chain efficiency. Under the leadership of Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer William H. Post II, Central Garden & Pet continues to invest in manufacturing capabilities and digital initiatives to support retail partners and strengthen its market position.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $36.56 to $37.50
• 50-Day Range: $33.68 to $41.07
• 52-Week Range: $31.97 to $43.88
• Volume: 77,489 shs
• Average Volume: 64,558 shs
• Market Capitalization: $2.33 billion
• P/E Ratio: 16.83
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Price Target: $40.00
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Central Garden & Pet Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Central Garden & Pet scored higher than 49% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 187th out of 289 stocks in the consumer discretionary sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 1.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Central Garden & Pet has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.33, and is based on 1 buy rating, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Central Garden & Pet has received no research coverage in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 2.10%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Central Garden & Pet are expected to grow by 2.10% in the coming year, from $2.38 to $2.43 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Central Garden & Pet is 16.83, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 269.50.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Central Garden & Pet is 16.83, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Discretionary sector average P/E ratio of about 18.11.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Central Garden & Pet has a P/B Ratio of 1.46. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

12.22% of the float of Central Garden & Pet has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Central Garden & Pet has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 12.8, which indicates bearish sentiment.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Central Garden & Pet has recently decreased by 9.57%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 0.0 / 5
• Dividend Strength: N/A

Dividend Yield

Central Garden & Pet does not currently pay a dividend.

Dividend Growth

Central Garden & Pet does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 1.8 / 5
• Environmental Score: -3.45

Percentage of Shares Shorted

12.22% of the float of Central Garden & Pet has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Central Garden & Pet has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 12.8, which indicates bearish sentiment.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Central Garden & Pet has recently decreased by 9.57%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.69

News Sentiment

Central Garden & Pet has a news sentiment score of 0.69. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.90 average news sentiment score of Consumer Discretionary companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 11 news articles for Central Garden & Pet this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

1 people have added Central Garden & Pet to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.8 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Central Garden & Pet insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $214,281.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 8.19% of the stock of Central Garden & Pet is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

Only 16.13% of the stock of Central Garden & Pet is held by institutions.

CENT Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have CENT shares performed this year?

Central Garden & Pet's stock was trading at $38.80 at the start of the year. Since then, CENT shares have decreased by 4.6% and is now trading at $37.02.

How were Central Garden & Pet's earnings last quarter?

Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ:CENT) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August, 6th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.22. Central Garden & Pet's quarterly revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year.
Read the conference call transcript.

When did Central Garden & Pet's stock split?

Central Garden & Pet shares split on Friday, February 9th 2024.The 5-4 split was announced on Friday, February 9th 2024. The newly created shares were payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, February 9th 2024. An investor that had 100 shares of stock prior to the split would have 125 shares after the split.

Does Central Garden & Pet have any subsidiaries?

Central Garden & Pet subsidiaries include these companies: Green Garden.

Who are Central Garden & Pet's major shareholders?

Top institutional shareholders of Central Garden & Pet include Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC (1.23%), Geode Capital Management LLC (0.75%), Bank of America Corp DE (0.40%) and American Century Companies Inc. (0.40%). Insiders that own company stock include William E Brown, Nicholas Lahanas, John D Walker III, Brooks Pennington III, John Edward Hanson and John Ranelli.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Central Garden & Pet?

Shares of CENT stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Central Garden & Pet own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Central Garden & Pet investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Broadcom (AVGO), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Adobe (ADBE), ServiceNow (NOW) and Arista Networks (ANET).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 8/06/2025
• Today: 9/03/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 9/30/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Consumer Discretionary
• Industry: CONSM PD - MISC DIS
• Sub-Industry: Wholesale
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:CENT
• CIK: 887733
• Web: www.central.com
• Phone: (925) 948-4000
• Fax: 302-636-5454
• Employees: 6,450
• Year Founded: 1980

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Central Garden & Pet: $40.00
• High Price Target: $45.00
• Low Price Target: $35.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +8.0%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.33
• Research Coverage: 3 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $2.20
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 16.83
• Forward P/E Ratio: 15.55
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $107.98 million
• Net Margins: 4.44%
• Pretax Margin: 5.95%
• Return on Equity: 10.77%
• Return on Assets: 4.65%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.75
• Current Ratio: 3.56
• Quick Ratio: 2.28

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $3.20 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.73
• Cash Flow: $3.77 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 9.83
• Book Value: $25.30 per share
• Price / Book: 1.46

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 62,870,000
• Free Float: 57,722,000
• Market Cap: $2.33 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.69