BNP Paribas Financial Markets Grows Holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES - Free Report) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,020,538 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 80,944 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 1.98% of Guess? worth $14,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Natixis raised its stake in Guess? by 743.5% during the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 285,100 shares of the company's stock worth $4,009,000 after acquiring an additional 251,300 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Guess? by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,274,565 shares of the company's stock worth $46,040,000 after purchasing an additional 231,926 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Guess? by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,290,336 shares of the company's stock worth $46,261,000 after purchasing an additional 228,601 shares in the last quarter. Tieton Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Guess? by 95.6% during the 4th quarter. Tieton Capital Management LLC now owns 463,726 shares of the company's stock worth $6,520,000 after purchasing an additional 226,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Guess? during the 4th quarter worth $2,571,000. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GES shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Guess? from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of Guess? in a research report on Friday, April 4th.

Guess? Price Performance

GES stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $12.11. The stock had a trading volume of 652,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,241,827. The company's 50 day moving average price is $10.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.11. Guess?, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.48 and a 1-year high of $27.30. The stock has a market cap of $627.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.54.

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

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.91%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 16th. Guess?'s dividend payout ratio is presently 187.50%.

Guess? declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, March 25th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 38.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Guess? 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.