Guess? (NYSE:GES) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) saw strong trading volume on Tuesday . 1,773,383 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 53% from the previous session’s volume of 1,160,927 shares.The stock last traded at $24.60 and had previously closed at $25.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price 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. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 target price (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

Guess? Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 1.98. The business’s 50-day moving average is $26.77 and its 200-day moving average is $24.00. 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? (NYSE:GES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $855.54 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. Guess?’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.85%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.38%.

Insider Activity at Guess?

In other Guess? news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 211,797 shares of Guess? 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,499,668.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 41.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GES. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Guess? during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,062,000. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 147.8% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,378,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,828,000 after purchasing an additional 822,089 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 158.6% during the fourth 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. purchased a new position in shares of Guess? during the third quarter valued at approximately $13,335,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $19,562,000 after purchasing an additional 453,565 shares during the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.