Yuhas George A. 4

What Happened
George A. Yuhas, General Counsel of Central Garden & Pet Co. (CENT), exercised 20,833 stock options on 2026-01-20 at an exercise price of $22.80 per share (total cash paid $474,992). The company withheld 18,545 of the issued shares (valued at $29.01 each, $537,990) to cover the aggregate exercise price and tax withholding, leaving a net of 2,288 shares delivered to Yuhas. The filing shows the derivative/options conversion and the withholding transaction.

Key Details

• Date of transactions: 2026-01-20; Form 4 filed 2026-01-21 (reports the prior-day activity).
• Option exercise: 20,833 shares @ $22.80 = $474,992 (transaction code M).
• Withholding/payment: 18,545 shares withheld @ $29.01 = $537,990 to cover exercise price/taxes (transaction code F).
• Net shares received: 20,833 exercised − 18,545 withheld = 2,288 shares.
• Shares owned after transaction: not specified in the filing.
• Footnotes: F1 notes units may represent interests in the issuer’s 401(k) stock fund; F2 explains shares were withheld by the issuer to cover exercise price and withholding tax (withholding price based on the average of the high and low sales prices that day); F3 notes the options were granted Feb 10, 2020 and were fully vested.
• Transaction codes: M = option exercise; F = tax withholding. Filing appears timely (next-day).

Context
This was an option exercise with a cashless-like settlement: options were converted to shares and the company withheld most shares to satisfy exercise cost and tax withholding. Such exercises are routine for vested option holders and do not by themselves indicate insider buying sentiment; open-market purchases would be a clearer bullish signal.