Bridgewater Associates LP Grows Stake in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Bridgewater Associates LP increased its stake in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Free Report) TSE: GIL by 104.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 246,615 shares of the textile maker's stock after purchasing an additional 126,056 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP owned approximately 0.16% of Gildan Activewear worth $11,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear in the fourth quarter worth about $97,275,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 604.1% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 545.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,210,314 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $57,403,000 after buying an additional 1,022,695 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 776.4% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 817,204 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $38,414,000 after acquiring an additional 723,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Gildan Activewear during the 3rd quarter valued at $24,262,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.83% of the company's stock.

Gildan Activewear Stock Up 2.4 %

NYSE:GIL traded up $0.98 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.80. 52,353 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 640,448. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. 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 market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.02.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL last announced 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 business had revenue of $822.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $805.75 million. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The business's revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a $0.226 dividend. This is an increase 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 2.16%. Gildan Activewear's payout ratio is presently 36.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GIL. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities lifted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gildan Activewear currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.00.

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.