Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $638,000 Stake in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES - Free Report) by 64.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,380 shares of the company's stock after selling 81,689 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Guess? worth $638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Guess? by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,290,336 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,261,000 after purchasing an additional 228,601 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Guess? by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,274,565 shares of the company's stock worth $46,040,000 after acquiring an additional 231,926 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Guess? by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,383,177 shares of the company's stock worth $19,447,000 after acquiring an additional 167,782 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Guess? by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,020,538 shares of the company's stock worth $14,349,000 after acquiring an additional 80,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Guess? by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 715,343 shares of the company's stock worth $9,514,000 after acquiring an additional 24,313 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.74% of the company's stock.

Guess? Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE GES traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $11.12. The company had a trading volume of 470,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,226,285. Guess?, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.48 and a twelve month high of $24.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $578.36 million, a PE ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 1.25. The stock's 50 day moving average is $10.93 and its 200-day moving average is $12.70.

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

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.79%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 16th. Guess?'s payout ratio is 187.50%.

Guess? declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 25th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 38.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GES has been the topic of a number of research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Guess? in a research note on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Guess? from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd.

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.