Short Interest in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Grows By 28.7%

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 11,450,000 shares, a growth of 28.7% from the June 15th total of 8,900,000 shares. Approximately 41.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,520,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Guess? from $32.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Guess? from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Guess? in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Four research 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? currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.25.

Guess? Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GES opened at $22.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 1.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $23.06 and a 200 day moving average of $24.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.57. Guess? has a one year low of $17.92 and a one year high of $33.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported ($0.27) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.13. The company had revenue of $591.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.64 million. Guess? had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 26.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.07) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Guess? will post 2.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 12th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.31%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 12th. Guess?’s payout ratio is presently 35.82%.

Guess? announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, April 1st that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guess?

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Guess? by 14.1% during the first quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,141,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,910,000 after buying an additional 141,000 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased 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 worth $18,452,000 after acquiring an additional 90,205 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased 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 worth $10,250,000 after acquiring an additional 46,035 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guess? during the 1st quarter worth $1,784,000. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guess? during the 4th quarter worth $1,028,000. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.