Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Short Interest Down 5.2% in June

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,900,000 shares, a decrease of 5.2% from the May 31st total of 9,390,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.8 days. Approximately 32.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Guess?

In related news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 211,797 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 30.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Guess? in the 1st quarter worth $60,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Guess? during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Guess? by 405.6% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Guess? by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 944 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in Guess? during the 1st quarter worth $208,000. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Guess? from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (up from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Guess? in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Guess? from $32.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.25.

Guess? Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of GES opened at $20.02 on Thursday. Guess? has a 52 week low of $17.92 and a 52 week high of $33.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 1.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.75.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.13. Guess? had a return on equity of 26.92% and a net margin of 7.97%. The business had revenue of $591.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.64 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.07) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Guess? will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Guess? declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, April 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 14.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 12th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.99%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.82%.

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.