Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Makes New Investment in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 193,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,720,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GES. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 72,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 5,906 shares during the period. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in shares of Guess? during the fourth quarter worth $2,349,000. EMC Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 158.0% during the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 6,068 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 6,738 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 20,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 3,906 shares during the period. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GES has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Guess? from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Guess? in a report on Friday, April 4th.

Guess? Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of GES stock opened at $11.49 on Monday. 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?, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.48 and a 1 year high of $27.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $10.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $595.62 million, a P/E ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 1.25.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. Guess? had a net margin of 3.19% and a return on equity of 23.29%. The firm had revenue of $932.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $916.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Guess?, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guess? declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 25th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 38.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.44%. Guess?’s payout ratio is currently 187.50%.

Guess? 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.