Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,550,000 shares, an increase of 6.3% from the March 15th total of 7,100,000 shares. Currently, 28.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on shares of Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Guess? from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $37.00 target price (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Guess? in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Guess? from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 138,203 shares of Guess? stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.53, for a total transaction of $4,219,337.59. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,131,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,546,984.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 41.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guess?

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Guess? in the 4th quarter valued at about $23,062,000. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 147.8% in the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,378,389 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,828,000 after purchasing an additional 822,089 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 158.6% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,170,608 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,220,000 after purchasing an additional 717,977 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Guess? in the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,335,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Guess? by 82.2% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,005,259 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,562,000 after buying an additional 453,565 shares during the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Guess? Stock Down 8.2 %

GES traded down $2.25 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $25.30. The company had a trading volume of 3,943,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,188,453. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 1.98. Guess? has a one year low of $17.21 and a one year high of $33.50. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $26.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.46. Guess? had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $891.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $855.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Guess? will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.74%. Guess?'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.38%.

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.