Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Sells 1,363,997 Shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership trimmed its holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 95.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,075 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,363,997 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Guess? were worth $999,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Guess? in the 4th quarter valued at about $765,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its position in shares of Guess? by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 75,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after buying an additional 27,305 shares during the last quarter. Tieton Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Guess? by 95.6% during the fourth quarter. Tieton Capital Management LLC now owns 463,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,520,000 after buying an additional 226,705 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Guess? by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,274,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,040,000 after buying an additional 231,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Guess? during the 4th quarter valued at $326,000. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GES shares. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Guess? in a research note on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Guess? from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th.

Guess? Price Performance

GES opened at $10.00 on Friday. Guess?, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.48 and a fifty-two week high of $28.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.16 and a 200 day moving average of $14.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market cap of $514.31 million, a P/E ratio of 8.40 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.01%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio is presently 187.50%.

Guess? announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, March 25th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 38.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.