Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Short Interest Up 6.3% in March

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,550,000 shares, an increase of 6.3% from the March 15th total of 7,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.7 days. Approximately 28.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity at Guess?

In related news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 211,797 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 is accessible through the SEC website. 41.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guess?

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted 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 valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in Guess? during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Guess? during the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Guess? during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted 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 valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 2,470 shares during the period. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on GES. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group boosted 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 target price (up from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Three 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, Guess? currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.00.

Guess? Price Performance

GES opened at $25.54 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.04. Guess? has a 12-month low of $17.21 and a 12-month high of $33.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.81 and a beta of 1.98.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $891.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $855.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Guess? will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. Guess?’s payout ratio is currently 41.38%.

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.