88,400 Shares in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Acquired by Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 88,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,243,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.17% of Guess? as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GES. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Guess? during the 4th quarter valued at about $171,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Guess? during the fourth quarter valued at $175,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guess? in the fourth quarter worth about $191,000. PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Guess? in the 4th quarter worth approximately $197,000. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Guess? by 109.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,291 shares of the company's stock valued at $193,000 after purchasing an additional 7,472 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.74% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GES shares. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of Guess? in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Guess? from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd.

Guess? Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:GES traded down $0.03 on Thursday, reaching $11.08. The company had a trading volume of 995,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,210,618. The firm has a market capitalization of $576.49 million, a PE ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Guess?, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.48 and a 52-week high of $24.64. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $10.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.47.

Guess? (NYSE:GES - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by ($0.14). Guess? had a net margin of 3.19% and a return on equity of 23.29%. As a group, analysts expect that Guess?, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Guess? declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 purchase up to 38.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 16th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.83%. Guess?'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 187.50%.

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.