The Children’s Place, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCE) Short Interest Up 17.5% in August

The Children’s Place, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCE) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,820,000 shares, a growth of 17.5% from the August 15th total of 2,400,000 shares. Currently, 55.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Children’s Place

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PLCE. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in Children’s Place by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 8,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its stake in Children’s Place by 67.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 18,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 7,272 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its stake in Children’s Place by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 21,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 6,383 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Children’s Place by 344.1% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 26,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 20,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Children’s Place by 1,397.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 26,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $619,000 after purchasing an additional 24,891 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PLCE has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Children’s Place from $24.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective on shares of Children’s Place in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Children’s Place from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Children’s Place presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.50.

Children’s Place Stock Up 6.1 %

NASDAQ PLCE traded up $0.74 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $12.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 367,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,579,096. Children’s Place has a 52 week low of $4.77 and a 52 week high of $38.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $7.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.39. The firm has a market cap of $164.72 million, a P/E ratio of -1.03 and a beta of 2.15.

Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 11th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by $1.40. The business had revenue of $319.66 million for the quarter. Children’s Place had a negative net margin of 10.52% and a negative return on equity of 4,732.98%.

Children’s Place Company Profile

The Children's Place, Inc operates as a children's specialty apparel retailer in North America. It operates through two segments, The Children's Place U.S. and The Children's Place International. The company offers apparel, footwear, accessories, and other items for children and tweens; and designs, contracts to manufacture, and sells merchandise under the proprietary The Children's Place, Place, Baby Place, Gymboree, Sugar & Jade, and PJ Place brand names.