Guess?, Inc. (GES) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 16th

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a dividend of 0.30 per share on Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th.

Guess? has raised its dividend by an average of 71.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Guess? has a payout ratio of 37.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Guess? to earn $3.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.9%.

Guess? Stock Down 1.8 %

GES stock opened at $27.59 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 1.98. Guess? has a one year low of $17.21 and a one year high of $33.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.46. Guess? had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 7.14%. The business had revenue of $891.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $855.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Guess? will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GES has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Guess? from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Guess? presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.00.

Insider Transactions at Guess?

In related news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 211,797 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.32, for a total transaction of $6,421,685.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,499,668.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 49.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guess?

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GES. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in Guess? in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Guess? in the first quarter valued at about $45,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Guess? by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Guess? by 732.9% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 2,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Guess? by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Guess? Company Profile

Guess?, Inc designs, markets, distributes, and licenses lifestyle collections of apparel and accessories for men, women, and children. It operates through five segments: Americas Retail, Americas Wholesale, Europe, Asia, and Licensing. The company's clothing collection includes jeans, pants, skirts, dresses, shorts, blouses, shirts, jackets, activewear, knitwear, and intimate apparel.