Wells Fargo & Company MN Increases Position in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Free Report) TSE: GIL by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 251,950 shares of the textile maker's stock after buying an additional 18,231 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned approximately 0.17% of Gildan Activewear worth $11,854,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group increased 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. 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 report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Trading Up 1.1 %

Gildan Activewear stock traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.13. 488,617 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 643,057. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a PE ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.06. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.23 and a 12-month high of $55.39.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $805.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 currently 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.