Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Stake Raised by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 23.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 176,142 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,571 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.33% of Guess? worth $5,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GES. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,141,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,910,000 after purchasing an additional 141,000 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 800,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,452,000 after acquiring an additional 90,205 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 473,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,250,000 after acquiring an additional 46,035 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Guess? in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,784,000. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in shares of Guess? in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,028,000. 61.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 138,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.53, for a total transaction of $4,219,337.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,131,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,546,984.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 30.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GES. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (up from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com lowered Guess? from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Guess? in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Guess? from $32.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Guess? has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.25.

Guess? Price Performance

GES traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $20.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 233,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,294,998. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $23.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Guess?, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.92 and a 12 month high of $33.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 1.92.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $591.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $574.64 million. Guess? had a return on equity of 26.92% and a net margin of 7.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.07) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Guess? announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 12th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.90%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.82%.

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.