Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) by 23.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 131,757 shares of the company’s stock after selling 41,120 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Guess? were worth $2,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Guess? during the 2nd quarter valued at about $82,286,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Guess? by 2,180.2% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Guess? by 8,708.5% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 691,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,910,000 after buying an additional 683,185 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Guess? by 75.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 914,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,039,000 after acquiring an additional 394,023 shares during the period. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its position in Guess? by 423.1% in the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 191,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,916,000 after acquiring an additional 155,281 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GES. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Guess? from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their target price on Guess? from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Guess? currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.00.

Guess? Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of Guess? stock opened at $14.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $728.16 million, a PE ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $16.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Guess?, Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.31 and a 1 year high of $33.50.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $738.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $747.36 million. Guess? had a net margin of 3.19% and a return on equity of 23.29%. Guess?’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Guess?, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. Guess?’s payout ratio is 100.84%.

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.