Carter's (NYSE:CRI) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded Carter’s from “strong buy” to “hold,” aligning with MarketBeat’s overall “hold” consensus and $39 average price target.
• Carter’s shares opened at $32.51 and were down 3.4%, trading below both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages; Wells Fargo also cut its price target from $42 to $30.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.26 in EPS versus the $0.06 estimate and revenue of $615.49 million, up 5.2% year over year. Institutional investors including Dimensional Fund Advisors and Wellington Management increased their positions.

Carter's (NYSE:CRI - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Capital One Financial set a $40.00 price target on shares of Carter's in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Carter's in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Carter's from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Carter's from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Carter's from $42.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.00.

Carter's Trading Down 3.4%

NYSE:CRI opened at $32.51 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.43. The stock has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.84. Carter's has a 1 year low of $27.86 and a 1 year high of $44.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.47.

Carter's (NYSE:CRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The textile maker reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $615.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $605.68 million. Carter's had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 6.55%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Carter's will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Carter's

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in Carter's by 114.7% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 97,709 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $4,022,000 after purchasing an additional 52,193 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Carter's by 11.9% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 645,863 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $26,584,000 after buying an additional 68,464 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in shares of Carter's during the second quarter worth about $2,260,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Carter's by 36.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,765,205 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $63,121,000 after buying an additional 472,786 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Carter's during the first quarter worth about $4,896,000.

About Carter's

Carter's, Inc NYSE: CRI is a major designer, source and marketer of apparel and related products for babies and young children. The company offers clothing, accessories, footwear, gifts and other products for infants, toddlers and children through brands including Carter's, OshKosh B'gosh, Little Planet and Skip Hop.

Founded in 1865, Carter's has built a long-standing presence in the children's apparel market. Its products are sold through company-operated retail stores, e-commerce websites and wholesale partners, including department stores, mass merchants and specialty retailers.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.