Empirical Finance LLC Invests $635,000 in Gates Industrial Corp PLC (NYSE:GTES)

Empirical Finance LLC acquired a new stake in Gates Industrial Corp PLC (NYSE:GTES) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 30,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $635,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Gates Industrial by 112.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,523,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,485,000 after acquiring an additional 3,459,450 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP grew its holdings in Gates Industrial by 141.2% during the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 4,213,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,946,000 after purchasing an additional 2,466,543 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Gates Industrial by 138.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,829,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,159,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220,277 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Gates Industrial by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,300,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268,716 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gates Industrial by 6,879.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,063,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048,596 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on GTES shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Gates Industrial from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Gates Industrial from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays upgraded Gates Industrial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Gates Industrial from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Gates Industrial from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Gates Industrial Price Performance

NYSE GTES opened at $22.58 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $21.02 and its 200-day moving average is $19.34. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 3.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $5.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92 and a beta of 1.37. Gates Industrial Corp PLC has a 12-month low of $12.41 and a 12-month high of $23.34.

Gates Industrial (NYSE:GTES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.33. Gates Industrial had a net margin of 5.72% and a return on equity of 9.65%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Gates Industrial Corp PLC will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gates Industrial Company Profile

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.