Guess? (NYSE:GES) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Guess? (NYSE:GES) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

GES has been the topic of several other research reports. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price target (up previously from $31.00) on shares of Guess? in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on shares of Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.50.

Guess? Stock Performance

GES traded down $0.74 on Friday, hitting $30.58. The company had a trading volume of 2,369,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 991,285. Guess? has a 1-year low of $17.21 and a 1-year high of $32.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.10. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.96.

Guess? (NYSE:GES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.46. Guess? had a return on equity of 32.96% and a net margin of 7.14%. The company had revenue of $891.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $855.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Guess? will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guess?

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Guess? during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,062,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Guess? by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 978,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,568,000 after buying an additional 66,578 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Guess? by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Guess? during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,066,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Guess? by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 81,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

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.