Guess? (NYSE:GES) Reaches New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

Shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $17.16 and last traded at $17.17, with a volume of 699920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GES. UBS Group reduced their price target on Guess? from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reduced their price objective on Guess? from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.25.

Guess? Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $872.60 million, a PE ratio of 6.85 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.00.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). Guess? had a return on equity of 24.18% and a net margin of 6.05%. The business had revenue of $732.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $729.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 11th. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guess?

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Guess? during the 1st quarter worth $4,029,000. Natixis purchased a new position in Guess? during the first quarter worth approximately $963,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Guess? by 15.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,879,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,090,000 after acquiring an additional 525,064 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Guess? by 76.2% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 776,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,448,000 after acquiring an additional 335,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Guess? by 110.6% in the second quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 78,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,605,000 after acquiring an additional 41,331 shares in the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.