Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $693,000 Position in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm 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’s holdings in Guess? were worth $693,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Guess? by 266.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 405.6% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 944 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of Guess? during the 3rd quarter worth $201,000. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Guess?

In other news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 138,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,131,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,546,984.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 49.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Guess? Stock Down 1.0 %

GES stock 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 1.98. Guess?, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.21 and a twelve month high of $33.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.23.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $891.05 million during 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued 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 payout ratio is 41.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GES shares. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 target price (up from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Guess? from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.00.

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.