Blue Trust Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 96.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 810 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $38,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GIL. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 204.8% in the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 881,100 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $33,416,000 after buying an additional 591,980 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 43.8% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,762,761 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $65,451,000 after buying an additional 537,215 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 28.0% in the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,863,618 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $70,696,000 after buying an additional 407,113 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 31.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,573,695 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $59,674,000 after buying an additional 377,135 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,568,733 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $97,290,000 after purchasing an additional 324,304 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

Shares of Gildan Activewear stock opened at $49.66 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.87. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.95 and a 12 month high of $49.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The textile maker reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $891.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $882.85 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 24.96% and a net margin of 13.01%. The business’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.152 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.61 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. TD Securities upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. CIBC upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $47.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.05.

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.