Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the four research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.00.

A number of brokerages recently commented on GES. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on shares of Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 price objective (up from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Guess? from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price 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.

Guess? Stock Performance

Shares of GES opened at $25.30 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $26.83 and its 200-day moving average is $24.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Guess? has a 12-month low of $17.21 and a 12-month high of $33.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $891.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $855.54 million. Guess? had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Guess? will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. Guess?’s payout ratio is currently 41.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 138,203 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $34,546,984.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 41.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guess?

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GES. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Guess? by 266.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new stake in Guess? during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Guess? during the 1st quarter worth about $45,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Guess? during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Guess? by 732.9% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 2,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.