Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Free Report) TSE: GIL by 24.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 791,223 shares of the textile maker's stock after purchasing an additional 153,816 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 0.52% of Gildan Activewear worth $37,030,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 4th quarter worth approximately $97,275,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted 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 worth $86,999,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588,071 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,668,147 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $78,571,000 after purchasing an additional 272,627 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Gildan Activewear by 545.1% in 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, Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,057,520 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $49,763,000 after purchasing an additional 70,270 shares during the period. 82.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on GIL shares. CIBC raised their target price on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Nine equities 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.

Gildan Activewear Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:GIL traded up $0.47 on Friday, hitting $41.13. The stock had a trading volume of 488,617 shares, compared to its average volume of 643,057. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.23 and a 1 year high of $55.39. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $46.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 2.22. The stock has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.16.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL last issued its quarterly 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). Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The business had revenue of $822.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $805.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. This is a positive change from Gildan Activewear's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Gildan Activewear's dividend 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.