Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES - Free Report) by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 131,757 shares of the company's stock after selling 41,120 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.26% of Guess? worth $2,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GES. Natixis bought a new stake in Guess? during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $963,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Guess? by 15.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,879,570 shares of the company's stock worth $122,090,000 after purchasing an additional 525,064 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. raised its holdings in Guess? by 110.6% in the second quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 78,693 shares of the company's stock worth $1,605,000 after purchasing an additional 41,331 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its position in Guess? by 423.1% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 191,982 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,916,000 after buying an additional 155,281 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Guess? during the first quarter valued at $717,000. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Guess? Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of GES traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $17.07. The company had a trading volume of 902,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 814,440. The stock has a market capitalization of $877.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 1.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.97. Guess?, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.05 and a 52-week high of $33.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Guess? (NYSE:GES - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Guess? had a return on equity of 24.18% and a net margin of 6.05%. The firm had revenue of $732.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $729.96 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 11th. Guess?'s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price target on shares of Guess? from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Guess? presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $27.25.

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.