Wells Fargo & Company MN Acquires 18,231 Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 251,950 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,231 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $11,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear during the fourth quarter worth approximately $97,275,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 604.1% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,850,971 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $86,999,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588,071 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,668,147 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $78,571,000 after purchasing an additional 272,627 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 545.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,210,314 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $57,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,695 shares during the period. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,057,520 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $49,763,000 after purchasing an additional 70,270 shares in the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of GIL stock opened at $41.21 on Wednesday. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.23 and a twelve month high of $55.39. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.16.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.30). Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The firm had revenue of $822.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $805.75 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. This is an increase from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GIL shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities lifted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, CIBC lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gildan Activewear currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Company Profile

Gildan Activewear Inc manufactures and sells various apparel products in the United States, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. It provides various activewear products, including T-shirts, fleece tops and bottoms, and sports shirts under the Gildan, Gildan Performance, Gildan Hammer, Glidan Softstyle, Gildan Heavy Cotton, Gildan Ultra Cotton, Gildan DryBlend, Gildan HeavyBlend, Comfort Colors, and American Apparel brands.