Guess?, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.30 (NYSE:GES)

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, June 6th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share on Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th.

Guess? has a dividend payout ratio of 70.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Guess? to earn $2.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.4%.

Guess? Stock Up 8.9%

Shares of NYSE:GES traded up $0.98 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $11.97. 1,573,396 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,381,389. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $10.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.44. 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? has a twelve month low of $8.48 and a twelve month high of $24.64. The company has a market cap of $622.62 million, a PE ratio of 10.06 and a beta of 1.20.

Guess? (NYSE:GES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported ($0.44) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.70) by $0.26. Guess? had a return on equity of 23.29% and a net margin of 3.19%. The company had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $630.61 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.27) earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Guess? will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Guess? by 82.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 282,196 shares of the company's stock worth $3,124,000 after purchasing an additional 127,274 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Guess? by 3.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 271,920 shares of the company's stock worth $3,010,000 after buying an additional 7,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Guess? by 49.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 28,031 shares of the company's stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 9,260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.74% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GES shares. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Guess? in a research note on Monday. UBS Group raised 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.

Guess? Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.