William Blair Investment Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI)

William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 530,582 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,675 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 1.47% of Carter’s worth $28,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Carter’s by 114.4% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 506 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Carter’s by 2,112.5% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 531 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Carter’s by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 994 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Carter’s in the third quarter worth $74,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in shares of Carter’s by 16,314.3% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 1,142 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CRI. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Carter’s from $57.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Carter’s from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup decreased 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Carter’s has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Carter’s Stock Performance

NYSE:CRI opened at $40.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.85. Carter’s, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.84 and a twelve month high of $86.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

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

Carter’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.82%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Carter’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.