GAMMA Investing LLC Raises Stake in Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI - Free Report) by 5,552.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,964 shares of the textile maker's stock after acquiring an additional 80,514 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned about 0.23% of Carter's worth $3,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Carter's by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,895,549 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $211,100,000 after purchasing an additional 366,293 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Carter's by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,919,953 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $104,042,000 after buying an additional 479,961 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Carter's by 124.4% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,739,522 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $93,134,000 after buying an additional 964,494 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Carter's by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,248,489 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $67,651,000 after buying an additional 149,058 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Carter's by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,245,943 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $67,518,000 after acquiring an additional 74,133 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CRI. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Carter's from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Carter's from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Carter's in a research report on Monday, April 28th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $36.80.

Carter's Stock Down 1.0%

CRI stock traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $31.93. 1,346,829 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,332,757. Carter's, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.62 and a 52 week high of $71.99. The company has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $34.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.56. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The textile maker reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $291.09 million during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Carter's, Inc. will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Carter's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a yield of 3.19%. This is an increase from Carter's's previous dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Carter's's payout ratio is currently 22.12%.

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.