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

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. Approximately 55.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PLCE. 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. StockNews.com lowered Children’s Place from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.50.

Children’s Place Trading Up 6.1 %

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

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Children’s Place by 67.7% in the second quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 18,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 7,272 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd lifted its position in Children’s Place by 42.3% during the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 21,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 6,383 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 13,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ARS Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Children’s Place in the 2nd quarter valued at about $247,000.

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.