Maverick Capital Ltd. Makes New Investment in Carter's, Inc. $CRI

Key Points

• Maverick Capital Ltd. invested approximately $8.1 million in Carter's, Inc., acquiring 198,001 shares, which represents about 0.54% of the company's total stock.
• Wall Street analysts have shown concern for Carter's, with Zacks Research lowering the stock rating to a "strong sell" and several firms adjusting their price targets downward.
• Carter's recently reported disappointing quarterly earnings, posting $0.17 EPS, which missed expectations by $0.26, and also cut its dividend to $0.25 per share.

Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 198,001 shares of the textile maker's stock, valued at approximately $8,098,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. owned approximately 0.54% of Carter's as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mariner LLC grew its position in shares of Carter's by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,534 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Carter's by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 12,336 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $668,000 after acquiring an additional 3,036 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Carter's by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 5,217 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Carter's by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 443,502 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $24,033,000 after acquiring an additional 49,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its position in Carter's by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 29,193 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $1,582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,878 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CRI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Carter's from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Carter's from $32.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Carter's from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Carter's from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Carter's has an average rating of "Strong Sell" and an average target price of $30.25.

Carter's Stock Performance

Carter's stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $28.66. 1,093,198 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,533,375. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $28.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.60 and a beta of 1.02. Carter's, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.38 and a fifty-two week high of $71.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Carter's (NYSE:CRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The textile maker reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.26). Carter's had a return on equity of 20.68% and a net margin of 4.79%.The company had revenue of $585.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $563.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Carter's, Inc. will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Carter's Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Carter's's dividend payout ratio is 26.53%.

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.