Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Carter’s, Inc. $CRI

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) by 45.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 856,237 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 266,336 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.35% of Carter’s worth $25,802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Carter’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $240,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in Carter’s in the second quarter valued at $1,140,000. Fox Run Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in Carter’s by 301.7% in the second quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 21,187 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $638,000 after buying an additional 15,913 shares in the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Carter’s by 100.0% in the second quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 84,000 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $2,531,000 after acquiring an additional 42,000 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Carter’s by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 611,403 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $18,422,000 after acquiring an additional 3,516 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CRI. UBS Group lifted their price target on Carter’s from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Carter’s from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Citigroup upped their target price on Carter’s from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Carter’s in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Carter’s from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $29.50.

Carter’s Stock Performance

NYSE CRI opened at $31.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.19. Carter’s, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.38 and a 1-year high of $58.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Carter’s (NYSE:CRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The textile maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.04). Carter’s had a return on equity of 16.71% and a net margin of 3.15%.The firm had revenue of $757.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $760.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Carter’s, Inc. will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Carter’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 24th. Carter’s’s dividend payout ratio is 40.49%.

About Carter’s

Carter’s, Inc engages in the business of brand marketing of young children’s apparel. It operates through the following segments: the United States (US) Retail, US Wholesale, and International. The US Retail segment includes selling products through retail stores and ecommerce websites. The US Wholesale segment focuses on wholesale partners.