Children’s Place Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:PLCE)

The Children’s Place, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCE) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 2,572 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 72% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,499 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Children’s Place

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PLCE. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Children’s Place by 426.3% during the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 5,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 4,459 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Children’s Place by 35.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 44,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,216,000 after purchasing an additional 11,734 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Children’s Place by 72.5% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 47,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 19,761 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Children’s Place by 54.9% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 8,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,000 after purchasing an additional 2,976 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Children’s Place by 8.2% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 34,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,703,000 after purchasing an additional 2,618 shares during the period. 94.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PLCE. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Children’s Place from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 18th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Children’s Place from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 18th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Children’s Place in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Children’s Place from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Children’s Place presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.00.

Children’s Place Price Performance

NASDAQ PLCE opened at $21.45 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Children’s Place has a 12-month low of $14.27 and a 12-month high of $48.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $267.70 million, a P/E ratio of -3.58 and a beta of 2.27.

Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 16th. The company reported $3.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $480.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $465.71 million. Children’s Place had a negative net margin of 4.40% and a negative return on equity of 37.87%. Children’s Place’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.33 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Children’s Place will post 0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Children’s Place

The Children's Place, Inc operates as a children's specialty apparel retailer in North America. It operates through two segments, The Children's Place U.S. and The Children's Place International. The company offers apparel, footwear, accessories, and other items for children and tweens; and designs, contracts to manufacture, and sells merchandise under the proprietary The Children's Place, Place, Baby Place, Gymboree, Sugar & Jade, and PJ Place brand names.