New York State Teachers Retirement System Increases Stock Position in Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,891 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,838 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.12% of Carter’s worth $3,362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Carter’s during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Carter’s by 366.7% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 490 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Carter’s by 159.4% in the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 415 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Carter’s by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 630 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Carter’s by 365.4% in the fourth quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 712 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Carter’s news, Director Mark Hipp sold 1,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.74, for a total value of $153,262.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,055.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Carter’s Trading Down 1.8 %

Carter’s stock opened at $71.80 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a PE ratio of 11.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $81.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.56. Carter’s, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.65 and a 52 week high of $88.03.

Carter’s (NYSE:CRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The textile maker reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $858.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $867.81 million. Carter’s had a return on equity of 28.79% and a net margin of 7.89%. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Carter’s, Inc. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Carter’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $0.80 dividend. This is a positive change from Carter’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Carter’s’s payout ratio is currently 51.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush raised their target price on Carter’s from $67.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. TheStreet raised Carter’s from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Carter’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Carter’s from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Carter’s from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.75.

Carter’s Profile

Carter's, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, sources, and markets branded childrenswear under the Carter's, OshKosh, Skip Hop, Child of Mine, Just One You, Simple Joys, Little Planet, and other brands in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S.