JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its holdings in shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES - Free Report) by 91.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,602 shares of the company's stock after selling 204,879 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s holdings in Guess? were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Guess? by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 311,496 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,274,000 after buying an additional 19,750 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in Guess? by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 72,396 shares of the company's stock worth $1,018,000 after buying an additional 5,906 shares during the period. KBC Group NV purchased a new position in shares of Guess? during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,349,000. EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 6,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verity Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Guess? by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 6,738 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.74% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GES has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Guess? in a research note on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Guess? from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th.

Guess? Stock Up 3.7 %

GES traded up $0.41 during trading on Thursday, hitting $11.56. 94,015 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,245,209. The stock has a market capitalization of $599.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 1.25. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $10.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.32. Guess?, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.48 and a 12-month high of $27.41. 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? (NYSE:GES - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $932.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $916.75 million. Guess? had a net margin of 3.19% and a return on equity of 23.29%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.01 EPS. Analysts predict that Guess?, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.38%. 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 reacquire up to 38.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign 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.