Gates Industrial Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:GTES)

Gates Industrial Corp PLC (NYSE:GTES) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 3,945 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 366% compared to the typical daily volume of 847 call options.

Gates Industrial Stock Performance

NYSE GTES opened at $19.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.48 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.84 and a 200-day moving average of $20.03. The company has a current ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Gates Industrial has a 1-year low of $15.14 and a 1-year high of $23.85.

Gates Industrial (NYSE:GTES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.33. Gates Industrial had a net margin of 5.72% and a return on equity of 9.75%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Gates Industrial will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Fredrik J. Eliasson bought 60,000 shares of Gates Industrial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $19.56 per share, for a total transaction of $1,173,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 188,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,121.12. This represents a 46.71 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gates Industrial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Gates Industrial by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 225,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,639,000 after purchasing an additional 27,898 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gates Industrial by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 39,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,363 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Gates Industrial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,033,000. Brucke Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gates Industrial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gates Industrial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GTES. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Gates Industrial from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Gates Industrial from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Gates Industrial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Gates Industrial from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Gates Industrial from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.11.

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.