Guess? (NYSE:GES) PT Lowered to $29.00 at UBS Group

Guess? (NYSE:GES) had its target price trimmed by UBS Group from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Guess? from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. B. Riley reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $37.00 price objective (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $31.25.

Guess? Trading Down 4.3 %

GES stock opened at $23.70 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.84. Guess? has a 52 week low of $17.21 and a 52 week high of $33.50. The company has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 8.17 and a beta of 1.98.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.46. Guess? had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $891.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $855.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. Guess?’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Guess? will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.06%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.38%.

Guess? declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, April 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Guess?

In other news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 138,203 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.53, for a total value of $4,219,337.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,131,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,546,984.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 30.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GES. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Guess? by 266.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,316 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Guess? in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Guess? in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Guess? by 405.6% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Guess? by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 944 shares during the last quarter. 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.