The Children’s Place, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCE) Short Interest Update

The Children’s Place, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCE) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,240,000 shares, a drop of 18.5% from the June 30th total of 2,750,000 shares. Approximately 44.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 909,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PLCE shares. B. Riley upgraded shares of Children’s Place from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $7.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of Children’s Place in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Children’s Place from $24.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Children’s Place from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Children’s Place

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PLCE. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Children’s Place in the 4th quarter worth about $137,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Children’s Place by 47.0% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 999 shares in the last quarter. Towerview LLC increased its holdings in Children’s Place by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Towerview LLC now owns 84,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,950,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Children’s Place by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Children’s Place by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 311,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,229,000 after buying an additional 48,964 shares in the last quarter.

Children’s Place Trading Down 4.3 %

PLCE stock traded down $0.36 on Tuesday, reaching $8.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 223,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,169,857. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.91. Children’s Place has a 12-month low of $6.58 and a 12-month high of $38.03. The firm has a market cap of $102.17 million, a PE ratio of -0.62 and a beta of 2.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 12th. The company reported ($1.18) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.05) by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $267.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $327.38 million. Children’s Place had a negative net margin of 10.56% and a negative return on equity of 233.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($2.12) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Children’s Place will post -0.56 EPS for the current year.

About Children’s Place

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.