Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 8,364 Shares of Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) by 98.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,830 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,364 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Carter’s were worth $912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CRI. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Carter’s by 155.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,851,079 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $154,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732,857 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Carter’s by 4.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,545,436 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $100,422,000 after buying an additional 60,089 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Carter’s by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,171,810 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $76,144,000 after buying an additional 42,589 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its position in Carter’s by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 300,661 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $19,537,000 after buying an additional 124,191 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Carter’s by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 232,840 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $12,618,000 after acquiring an additional 57,346 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Carter’s from $72.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup raised Carter’s from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.67.

Carter’s Price Performance

CRI stock opened at $52.17 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.05. Carter’s, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.65 and a 12-month high of $88.03. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.28, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Carter’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.13%. Carter’s’s payout ratio is 50.79%.

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.