New York State Common Retirement Fund Acquires 49,675 Shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 388.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,448 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,675 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.12% of Guess? worth $1,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Guess? by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 20,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $468,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Guess? by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 22,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $486,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 944 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 23,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the period. Finally, EMC Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Guess? by 13.5% in the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Guess?

In related news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 211,797 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.32, for a total value of $6,421,685.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,499,668.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 30.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Guess? Price Performance

Shares of GES opened at $26.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.55. Guess?, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.21 and a 1-year high of $33.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.46. Guess? had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 30.02%. 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 previous year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. Guess?’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Guess? announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, April 1st that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 14.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Guess?’s payout ratio is 41.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.