Norges Bank Invests $97.28 Million in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Free Report) TSE: GIL during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,069,601 shares of the textile maker's stock, valued at approximately $97,275,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.36% of Gildan Activewear as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GIL. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 61.8% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 872 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group grew its position in Gildan Activewear by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 16,268 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $765,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,069 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Gildan Activewear in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Willis Investment Counsel raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 35,167 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $1,655,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

Shares of GIL traded down $2.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,879,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 642,527. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.91, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.62. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.23 and a fifty-two week high of $55.39.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $822.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $805.75 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. Gildan Activewear's revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.226 dividend. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. This is a boost 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%.

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.