Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 231,926 Shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES - Free Report) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,274,565 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 231,926 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 6.36% of Guess? worth $46,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in shares of Guess? in the 4th quarter worth $2,349,000. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Guess? in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,191,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Guess? by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,383,177 shares of the company's stock worth $19,447,000 after purchasing an additional 167,782 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 55.3% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 77,366 shares of the company's stock worth $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 27,558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Guess? by 8,708.5% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 691,030 shares of the company's stock worth $13,910,000 after buying an additional 683,185 shares in the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Guess? Trading Down 6.9 %

NYSE GES traded down $0.72 on Tuesday, hitting $9.71. 1,521,002 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,254,196. The company's 50-day moving average price is $11.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Guess?, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.48 and a 52-week high of $27.90. The company has a market capitalization of $499.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16 and a beta of 1.43.

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Guess? (NYSE:GES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. Guess? had a return on equity of 23.29% and a net margin of 3.19%. The firm had revenue of $932.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $916.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. Guess?'s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Guess?, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Guess? announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 25th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 38.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.36%. Guess?'s payout ratio is 187.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GES. UBS Group cut their price objective on Guess? from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a "market perform" rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Guess? in a report on Friday, April 4th.

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.