Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Purchases 454 Shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,315 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Guess? were worth $468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GES. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Guess? by 266.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management lifted its position in Guess? by 13.5% in the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Guess? during the third quarter worth $201,000. Numerai GP LLC bought a new position in Guess? during the third quarter valued at $238,000. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA purchased a new stake in shares of Guess? in the third quarter valued at $243,000. Institutional investors own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 138,203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.53, for a total transaction of $4,219,337.59. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,131,575 shares in the company, valued at $34,546,984.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 49.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GES has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Guess? from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Guess? presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

Guess? Stock Performance

Guess? stock opened at $26.24 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 9.05 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $27.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.26. Guess?, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.21 and a fifty-two week high of $33.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $891.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $855.54 million. Guess? had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 7.14%. Guess?’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Guess? announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, April 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.38%.

Guess? 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.