Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Shares Sold by Amundi

Amundi lowered its position in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 153,341 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 15,858 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $7,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 61.8% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 872 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 500.0% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 894 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 745 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 899.0% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 561.9% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,423 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares during the period. 82.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GIL shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities upped their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, CIBC boosted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Gildan Activewear has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

Gildan Activewear stock opened at $46.53 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $32.23 and a one year high of $55.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $50.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.226 per share. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is a positive change from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is presently 36.00%.

About Gildan Activewear

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.