Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 131,757 shares of the company’s stock after selling 41,120 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.26% of Guess? worth $2,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Guess? during the second quarter valued at $82,286,000. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Guess? by 0.6% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,454,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,668,000 after buying an additional 9,100 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Guess? by 2,180.2% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,370,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310,042 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Guess? by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,215,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,466,000 after acquiring an additional 54,990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Guess? by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 939,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,914,000 after buying an additional 20,054 shares in the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Guess? Trading Up 2.5 %

Guess? stock opened at $14.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $728.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 1.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.08. Guess?, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.31 and a 12 month high of $33.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $738.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $747.36 million. Guess? had a return on equity of 23.29% and a net margin of 3.19%. Guess?’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Guess?, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.48%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Guess? from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Telsey Advisory Group reduced their price target on shares of Guess? from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

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.