Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 23.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 176,142 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,571 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Guess? were worth $5,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GES. Denali Advisors LLC bought a new position in Guess? in the first quarter valued at $519,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Guess? by 14.1% in the first quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,141,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,910,000 after acquiring an additional 141,000 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Guess? in the first quarter valued at $1,784,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Guess? by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 800,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,452,000 after acquiring an additional 90,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Guess? by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 978,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,568,000 after acquiring an additional 66,578 shares during the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Carlos Alberini sold 138,203 shares of Guess? stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.53, for a total transaction of $4,219,337.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,131,575 shares in the company, valued at $34,546,984.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 30.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GES has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. B. Riley reissued 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. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Guess? in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. StockNews.com cut Guess? from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on 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 reduced their price objective on Guess? from $32.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.25.

Guess? Stock Up 1.5 %

GES traded up $0.31 on Friday, hitting $20.34. The company had a trading volume of 233,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,294,998. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Guess?, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.92 and a 52-week high of $33.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 1.92.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported ($0.27) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.13. Guess? had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 26.92%. The business had revenue of $591.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.64 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.07) earnings per share. Guess?’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guess? declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, April 1st that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 14.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.90%. Guess?’s payout ratio is 35.82%.

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.