State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Increases Stock Holdings in Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,179 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,025 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.10% of Carter’s worth $2,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CRI. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Carter’s by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 630 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Carter’s in the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Carter’s in the third quarter worth about $234,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in shares of Carter’s in the third quarter worth about $236,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Carter’s by 24.3% in the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,594 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on CRI shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Carter’s from $75.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut Carter’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Evercore ISI boosted 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. Wedbush boosted their price target on Carter’s from $67.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Carter’s from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.80.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $153,262.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,055.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Carter’s Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE CRI opened at $70.44 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $79.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.93. Carter’s, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.65 and a 52-week high of $88.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.11, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Carter’s (NYSE:CRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The textile maker reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.24. Carter’s had a return on equity of 28.55% and a net margin of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $858.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $867.81 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. Carter’s’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Carter’s, Inc. will post 6.3 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. This is a boost from Carter’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Carter’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.47%.

About Carter’s

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.