Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) saw a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,020,000 shares, a decrease of 10.3% from the November 30th total of 7,830,000 shares. Approximately 23.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 907,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GES shares. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their target price on Guess? from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Guess? from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

Institutional Trading of Guess?

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GES. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Guess? during the second quarter worth approximately $82,286,000. LSV Asset Management grew its position in Guess? by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,454,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,668,000 after purchasing an additional 9,100 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 2,180.2% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,370,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310,042 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Guess? by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,215,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,466,000 after purchasing an additional 54,990 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Guess? by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 939,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,914,000 after purchasing an additional 20,054 shares during the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Guess? Trading Up 1.4 %

GES stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $14.06. 845,304 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,126,227. The firm has a market capitalization of $723.49 million, a PE ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.89. Guess? has a 52-week low of $13.31 and a 52-week high of $33.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $16.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.17.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $738.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $747.36 million. Guess? had a return on equity of 23.29% and a net margin of 3.19%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Guess? will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.53%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.84%.

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.