Strs Ohio Grows Stake in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Strs Ohio raised its stake in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 443.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 588,202 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 480,000 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned about 0.35% of Gildan Activewear worth $19,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIL. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Gildan Activewear by 38.6% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 41,005 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,538,000 after purchasing an additional 11,413 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Gildan Activewear by 41.5% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 32,700 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 9,597 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Gildan Activewear by 36.1% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,381 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 896 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 35.8% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 19,786 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $742,000 after acquiring an additional 5,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 29.4% during the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 33,700 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,268,000 after acquiring an additional 7,662 shares during the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gildan Activewear Stock Up 1.8 %

NYSE:GIL opened at $35.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.38. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a one year low of $26.98 and a one year high of $38.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 2.33.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The textile maker reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 23.19% and a net margin of 16.70%. The company had revenue of $782.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $753.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Gildan Activewear’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.205 dividend. This is an increase from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is presently 27.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GIL. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research report on Monday, April 8th. CIBC lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. UBS Group lowered Gildan Activewear from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gildan Activewear currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.25.

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.