New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Stake in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 388.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 62,448 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,675 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Guess? were worth $1,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in Guess? by 147.8% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,378,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,828,000 after purchasing an additional 822,089 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Guess? by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,035,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,417,000 after acquiring an additional 12,134 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Guess? by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 836,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,103,000 after acquiring an additional 35,066 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Guess? during the third quarter worth about $13,335,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Guess? by 10.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 473,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,250,000 after purchasing an additional 46,035 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related 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 owns 1,131,575 shares in the company, valued at $34,546,984.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 30.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Guess? Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GES opened at $26.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 1.98. Guess?, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.21 and a twelve month high of $33.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.49 and a 200 day moving average of $24.55.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $891.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $855.54 million. Guess? had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 7.14%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guess? announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, April 1st that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 14.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. Guess?’s dividend 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.