Handelsbanken Fonder AB Trims Stock Position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 35.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,549 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,300 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Guess? were worth $220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Guess? by 19.3% in the fourth 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. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Guess? during the 4th quarter valued at $316,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Guess? by 405.6% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Guess? in the fourth quarter worth $1,066,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Guess? from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Guess? currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.00.

Guess? Stock Performance

Shares of GES stock opened at $26.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.21 and a beta of 1.98. Guess?, Inc. has a one year low of $17.21 and a one year high of $33.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $27.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.43.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $891.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $855.54 million. Guess? had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 7.14%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.91 EPS for the current year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.49%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.38%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 211,797 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 49.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Guess?

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.