Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Stock Holdings in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 33.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 632,223 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 319,594 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.41% of Gildan Activewear worth $29,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear in the third quarter valued at $457,000. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 7.2% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 92,054 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $4,337,000 after buying an additional 6,205 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 42.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,724 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after buying an additional 8,855 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear in the third quarter worth approximately $591,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 8,089 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIL opened at $41.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $47.80 and a 200 day moving average of $48.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.16. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.23 and a 52 week high of $55.39.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last released 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). Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The company had revenue of $822.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $805.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a $0.226 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. This is an increase from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is presently 36.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on GIL shares. CIBC increased their target price on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

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.