Northern Trust Corp Buys 42,805 Shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES - Free Report) by 33.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 172,650 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 42,805 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.34% of Guess? worth $2,427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GES. EMC Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Guess? by 158.0% in the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 6,068 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Guess? during the fourth quarter valued at $191,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Guess? by 109.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 14,291 shares of the company's stock worth $193,000 after buying an additional 7,472 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guess? in the 4th quarter worth $226,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Guess? in the 4th quarter worth about $256,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.74% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on GES. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Guess? from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of Guess? in a research note on Friday, April 4th.

Guess? Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE GES traded up $0.08 on Tuesday, hitting $11.12. 470,270 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,226,285. 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?, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.48 and a 52-week high of $24.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $578.36 million, a P/E ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.71.

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

Guess? Announces Dividend

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

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

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.