Short Interest in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Decreases By 5.2%

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,330,000 shares, a decrease of 5.2% from the September 30th total of 8,790,000 shares. Currently, 26.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 799,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Guess? Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Guess? stock traded up $0.25 during trading on Friday, hitting $17.24. The stock had a trading volume of 164,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,125,467. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $886.48 million, a PE ratio of 6.85 and a beta of 1.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.00. Guess? has a 1 year low of $16.88 and a 1 year high of $33.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $732.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $729.96 million. Guess? had a return on equity of 24.18% and a net margin of 6.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Guess? will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.96%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.39%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Guess? by 186.2% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 849 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guess? during the first quarter worth $60,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Guess? during the second quarter worth $160,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in Guess? by 72.9% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,000 after buying an additional 4,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Guess? during the 1st quarter worth $208,000. 61.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.