Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,200,000 shares, a decrease of 8.8% from the October 15th total of 3,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 670,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.8 days. Approximately 8.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Carter’s news, EVP Kendra Krugman sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $139,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,279,383.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Carter’s news, CFO Richard F. Westenberger sold 3,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.24, for a total value of $263,112.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,334 shares in the company, valued at $7,293,326.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kendra Krugman sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total transaction of $139,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,169 shares in the company, valued at $4,279,383.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,713 shares of company stock valued at $1,722,878. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Carter’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRI. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Carter’s by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,454,471 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $317,777,000 after buying an additional 23,125 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Carter’s by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,154,133 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $228,990,000 after buying an additional 140,152 shares during the last quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Carter’s by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC now owns 2,871,448 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $208,467,000 after buying an additional 108,412 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Carter’s by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,287,686 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $170,684,000 after buying an additional 88,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Carter’s by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,713,889 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $118,515,000 after buying an additional 90,094 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on CRI. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Carter’s from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Carter’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Carter’s in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.67.

Carter’s Stock Performance

Shares of CRI stock traded up $1.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $70.61. 670,927 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 740,049. The company has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $67.69 and its 200 day moving average is $68.90. Carter’s has a 1 year low of $60.65 and a 1 year high of $86.76.

Carter’s (NYSE:CRI) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 27th. The textile maker reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.30. Carter’s had a net margin of 6.87% and a return on equity of 27.45%. The business had revenue of $792.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $785.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Carter’s will post 5.96 EPS for the current year.

Carter’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 28th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 27th. Carter’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.74%.

About Carter’s

Carter's, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, sources, and markets branded childrenswear under the Carter's, OshKosh, Skip Hop, Child of Mine, Just One You, Simple Joys, little planet, and other brands in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: U.S.