Guess? (NYSE:GES) Sees Strong Trading Volume

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Tuesday . 1,773,383 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 53% from the previous session’s volume of 1,160,927 shares.The stock last traded at $24.60 and had previously closed at $25.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GES. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a report on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Guess? from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

Guess? Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.88 and a 200 day moving average of $24.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.81 and a beta of 1.98.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.46. Guess? had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 7.14%. The business had revenue of $891.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $855.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $4,219,337.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,131,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,546,984.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 49.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Guess?

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GES. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Guess? by 27.5% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Guess? by 48.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 22,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $490,000 after buying an additional 7,322 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in Guess? by 14.1% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 33,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $734,000 after buying an additional 4,152 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new stake in Guess? in the first quarter valued at about $391,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its holdings in Guess? by 6.0% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 37,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $833,000 after buying an additional 2,112 shares during the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.