Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Purchases 2,704 Shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,056 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,704 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.06% of Guess? worth $693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Guess? by 147.8% in the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,378,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,828,000 after purchasing an additional 822,089 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Guess? by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,035,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,417,000 after acquiring an additional 12,134 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Guess? by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 836,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,103,000 after acquiring an additional 35,066 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Guess? during the 3rd quarter worth about $13,335,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Guess? by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 473,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,250,000 after acquiring an additional 46,035 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GES shares. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on shares of Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Guess? from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 target price (up from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a report on Monday, April 8th. Three research 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? presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.00.

Guess? Price Performance

Shares of GES opened at $25.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Guess?, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.21 and a twelve month high of $33.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.17 and a 200-day moving average of $24.23.

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

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.38%.

Guess? announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, April 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guess? news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 138,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.53, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 49.10% of the company’s stock.

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.