Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. reduced its position in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 343,612 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 35,819 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.20% of Gildan Activewear worth $11,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIL. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.6% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,996,538 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $308,013,000 after purchasing an additional 168,601 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 1.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,401,045 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $179,293,000 after acquiring an additional 97,924 shares during the period. Guardian Capital LP lifted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 3.2% in the third quarter. Guardian Capital LP now owns 2,739,070 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $77,128,000 after acquiring an additional 84,744 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 13.5% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,548,189 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $71,933,000 after acquiring an additional 303,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 3.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,543,772 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $43,241,000 after acquiring an additional 53,900 shares during the period. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on GIL shares. UBS Group downgraded Gildan Activewear from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $37.00 in a report on Friday, January 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.25.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:GIL opened at $34.89 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.48 and a 200-day moving average of $33.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.38. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.98 and a twelve month high of $38.87.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The textile maker reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $782.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $753.35 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 23.19% and a net margin of 16.70%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.94 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 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. This is a boost from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.06%.

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.