DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 2,204 Shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lessened its stake in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 23.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,275 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,204 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Guess? were worth $169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in Guess? by 147.8% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,378,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,828,000 after acquiring an additional 822,089 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Guess? by 158.6% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,170,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,220,000 after purchasing an additional 717,977 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Guess? during the third quarter worth $13,335,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Guess? by 82.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,005,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,562,000 after buying an additional 453,565 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Guess? during the fourth quarter worth $6,088,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GES has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a report on Monday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Guess? from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

Insider Transactions at Guess?

In related news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 138,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.53, for a total value of $4,219,337.59. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,131,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,546,984.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 41.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Guess? Stock Down 8.2 %

GES stock opened at $25.30 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.55. Guess?, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.21 and a fifty-two week high of $33.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.03. The company has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 1.98.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.46. Guess? had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 7.14%. The company had revenue of $891.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $855.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. Guess?’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.38%.

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.