AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 90.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,756 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 57,669 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.23% of Guess? worth $2,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its position in Guess? by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,141,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,910,000 after acquiring an additional 141,000 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 800,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,452,000 after purchasing an additional 90,205 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Guess? during the first quarter worth $4,029,000. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Guess? in the 1st quarter valued at $1,784,000. Finally, Natixis purchased a new position in Guess? in the 1st quarter valued at $963,000. 61.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GES has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price objective on Guess? from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.25.

Guess? Stock Performance

NYSE:GES opened at $19.19 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 1.92. Guess?, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.52 and a fifty-two week high of $33.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Guess? had a return on equity of 24.18% and a net margin of 6.05%. The company had revenue of $732.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $729.96 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 11th. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.