Guess? (NYSE:GES) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $29.00. The stock had previously closed at $24.77, but opened at $24.11. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Guess? shares last traded at $24.12, with a volume of 97,203 shares changing hands.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Guess?

In other news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 211,797 shares of Guess? stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.32, for a total transaction of $6,421,685.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,778 shares in the company, valued at $38,499,668.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 30.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guess?

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Guess? by 15.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,879,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,090,000 after buying an additional 525,064 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Guess? by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,503,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,795,000 after purchasing an additional 85,562 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,447,889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,388,000 after purchasing an additional 69,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Guess? by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,141,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,910,000 after purchasing an additional 141,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Guess? by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,035,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,417,000 after buying an additional 12,134 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Guess? Trading Up 2.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.85. The firm has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.40 and a beta of 1.98.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $855.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. Guess?’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.38%.

Guess? announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, April 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Guess?

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.