Denali Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 16,500 Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Denali Advisors LLC bought a new position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 16,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $519,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Guess? in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 405.6% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in Guess? by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 944 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA bought a new stake in Guess? in the third quarter valued at $243,000. Finally, Gallacher Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Guess? during the 4th quarter valued at $250,000. 61.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Guess? Stock Performance

Shares of GES opened at $20.02 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 1.92. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $23.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.75. Guess?, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.92 and a 52 week high of $33.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported ($0.27) earnings per share 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 company’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.07) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.99%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 12th. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.82%.

Guess? announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan 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 plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (up from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered Guess? from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Guess? in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guess?

In other Guess? news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 138,203 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,131,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,546,984.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 30.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.