Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Shares Bought by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 24.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 791,223 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 153,816 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $37,030,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GIL. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $457,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 42.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,724 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after buying an additional 8,855 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear in the 3rd quarter valued at $591,000. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 8,089 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Gildan Activewear during the 3rd quarter valued at about $969,000. 82.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIL opened at $41.21 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.16. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.23 and a fifty-two week high of $55.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 2.22.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $822.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $805.75 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC upped their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear 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.