Guess? (NYSE:GES) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Guess? (NYSE:GES) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Guess? in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Small Cap Consu lowered shares of Guess? from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Guess? from $13.00 to $16.75 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $16.75 price target on shares of Guess? in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.75.

Guess? Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:GES opened at $16.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $874.94 million, a P/E ratio of 105.01 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $16.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.28. Guess? has a 1 year low of $8.48 and a 1 year high of $19.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.10. Guess? had a return on equity of 16.44% and a net margin of 1.01%.The company had revenue of $772.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $758.72 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Guess? will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Guess? Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th were paid a $0.225 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 10th. Guess?’s payout ratio is currently 562.50%.

Institutional Trading of Guess?

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new position in Guess? in the second quarter worth $11,727,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Guess? by 5.1% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 809,839 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,791,000 after purchasing an additional 39,344 shares during the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guess? in the 2nd quarter worth about $8,251,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Guess? by 38.4% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 644,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,132,000 after purchasing an additional 178,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Guess? by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 596,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,603,000 after purchasing an additional 56,479 shares during the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.