Gates Industrial Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:GTES)

Gates Industrial Corp PLC (NYSE:GTES) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 3,945 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 366% compared to the average volume of 847 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GTES has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Gates Industrial from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Gates Industrial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Gates Industrial from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup decreased their price target on 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, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Gates Industrial from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.11.

Gates Industrial Stock Performance

Shares of GTES opened at $19.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.48 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 3.20 and a quick ratio of 2.26. Gates Industrial has a one year low of $15.14 and a one year high of $23.85. The business has a fifty day moving average of $20.84 and a 200 day moving average of $20.04.

Gates Industrial (NYSE:GTES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33. Gates Industrial had a return on equity of 9.75% and a net margin of 5.72%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gates Industrial will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Fredrik J. Eliasson purchased 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $19.56 per share, with a total value of $1,173,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 188,452 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,121.12. This trade represents a 46.71 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gates Industrial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GTES. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Gates Industrial by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 14,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Gates Industrial by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Gates Industrial by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 4,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association increased its position in Gates Industrial by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 14,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems raised its stake in shares of Gates Industrial by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 11,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. 98.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.