The Children’s Place, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCE) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

The Children’s Place, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCE) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,700,000 shares, a drop of 22.4% from the September 15th total of 3,480,000 shares. Approximately 56.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLCE. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Children’s Place by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 8,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Children’s Place by 80.3% in the first quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 129,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,496,000 after purchasing an additional 57,740 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 20,253 shares in the last quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Children’s Place in the second quarter valued at about $247,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Children’s Place by 105.5% in the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 27,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 13,878 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PLCE has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Children’s Place from $12.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com cut Children’s Place from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Children’s Place presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.00.

Children’s Place Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of Children’s Place stock traded up $0.34 during trading on Monday, reaching $14.06. 518,782 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,601,613. Children’s Place has a twelve month low of $4.77 and a twelve month high of $38.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $10.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.08 and a beta of 2.23.

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

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.