Meritage Portfolio Management Invests $383,000 in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Meritage Portfolio Management acquired a new stake in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 19,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $383,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Guess? during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $82,286,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Guess? by 2,180.2% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,370,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310,042 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Guess? by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,879,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,090,000 after purchasing an additional 525,064 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Guess? by 41.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,615,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,962,000 after purchasing an additional 474,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Guess? by 75.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 914,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,039,000 after purchasing an additional 394,023 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GES shares. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price target on shares of Guess? from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Guess? presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.25.

Guess? Stock Up 1.2 %

GES stock opened at $17.43 on Tuesday. Guess?, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.78 and a 1-year high of $33.50. The stock has a market cap of $896.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.02 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average is $18.90 and its 200 day moving average is $21.57.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $732.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $729.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Guess?, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.88%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.39%.

Guess? 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.