Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Purchases Shares of 14,180 Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System acquired a new stake in shares of Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 14,180 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $768,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CRI. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Carter’s by 155.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,851,079 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $154,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732,857 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Carter’s by 40.5% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 591,246 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $32,040,000 after buying an additional 170,528 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of Carter’s by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 300,661 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $19,537,000 after buying an additional 124,191 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Carter’s by 2,799.6% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 103,285 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $5,597,000 after acquiring an additional 99,723 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Carter’s by 109.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 174,814 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $9,473,000 after acquiring an additional 91,162 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Carter’s from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Carter’s from $57.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Carter’s from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Carter’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

Carter’s Price Performance

Shares of CRI stock opened at $42.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $48.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 2.21. Carter’s, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.84 and a 52-week high of $86.24.

Carter’s (NYSE:CRI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The textile maker reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.52. The firm had revenue of $859.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $835.82 million. Carter’s had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 27.15%. The business’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Carter’s, Inc. will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Carter’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Carter’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.62%.

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.