BNP Paribas Financial Markets Invests $1.85 Million in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 39,298 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,849,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GIL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Gildan Activewear during the fourth quarter valued at $97,275,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 604.1% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 1,588,071 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 276.9% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,769,634 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $83,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,121 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 545.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,210,314 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $57,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 776.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 817,204 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $38,414,000 after purchasing an additional 723,962 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Gildan Activewear Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE GIL opened at $50.09 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.21. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.33 and a 12 month high of $55.39.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The textile maker reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $711.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $715.29 million. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be issued a $0.226 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is presently 34.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GIL. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC cut their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.20.

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.