Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,340,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the October 15th total of 7,930,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.2 days. Approximately 31.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity at Guess?

In other Guess? news, Director Deborah Weinswig sold 6,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.03, for a total value of $158,814.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,554.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 49.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guess?

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GES. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Guess? by 4.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,555,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,546,000 after purchasing an additional 184,983 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Guess? by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,970,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,760,000 after buying an additional 50,371 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Guess? by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,499,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,169,000 after buying an additional 32,367 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Guess? by 134.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,439,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,995,000 after buying an additional 824,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Guess? by 147.8% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,378,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,828,000 after acquiring an additional 822,089 shares in the last quarter. 61.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Guess? Stock Up 4.4 %

NYSE:GES traded up $1.01 on Friday, hitting $23.91. The stock had a trading volume of 1,050,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 883,038. The company has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.23 and a beta of 1.91. Guess? has a 52 week low of $17.21 and a 52 week high of $24.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $21.98 and its 200 day moving average is $20.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 23rd. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.32. Guess? had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 31.02%. The business had revenue of $664.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $640.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. Guess?’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Guess? will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Guess? in a research note on Thursday. TheStreet upgraded Guess? from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 23rd. B. Riley assumed coverage on Guess? in a report on Monday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Guess? in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Guess? has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.33.

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.