Optimist Retirement Group LLC Acquires New Position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC acquired a new stake in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 10,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GES. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Guess? in the fourth quarter valued at about $23,062,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $122,090,000 after acquiring an additional 525,064 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Guess? by 76.2% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 776,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,448,000 after acquiring an additional 335,947 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its stake in Guess? by 423.1% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 191,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,916,000 after acquiring an additional 155,281 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Guess? in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,029,000. 61.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Guess? Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GES opened at $19.57 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.98. The company has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.92. Guess?, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.52 and a 12-month high of $33.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $732.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $729.96 million. Guess? had a return on equity of 24.18% and a net margin of 6.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.13%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GES has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on Guess? from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Guess? from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group decreased their target price on Guess? from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.