Carter’s (NYSE:CRI) Downgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to Underweight

Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Carter’s (NYSE:CRI) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $25.00 price target on the textile maker’s stock, down from their prior price target of $40.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Carter’s from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Carter’s in a report on Monday. They set an “underweight” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Carter’s currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $36.20.

Carter’s Stock Up 4.9 %

CRI stock opened at $34.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.09. Carter’s has a 52-week low of $32.04 and a 52-week high of $72.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.10.

Carter’s (NYSE:CRI) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The textile maker reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $291.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $624.86 million. Carter’s had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 27.15%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Carter’s will post 5.15 EPS for the current year.

Carter’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.15%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Carter’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Carter’s

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRI. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Carter’s by 58.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 20,077 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,304,000 after acquiring an additional 7,429 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Carter’s during the 3rd quarter valued at $692,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Carter’s by 109.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,617 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $2,468,000 after purchasing an additional 20,210 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Carter’s by 258.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,450 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Carter’s by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,182 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 2,074 shares in the last quarter.

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.