Natixis Advisors L.P. Boosts Holdings in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its position in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 1,319.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 187,467 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 174,263 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned about 0.11% of Gildan Activewear worth $6,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Strs Ohio raised its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 981.8% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 108,202 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $3,046,000 after purchasing an additional 98,200 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Gildan Activewear by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 180,453 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $5,073,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 61.7% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 37,351 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,046,000 after buying an additional 14,251 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the third quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Todd Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 4.3% during the third quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 97,500 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $2,731,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GIL shares. Citigroup raised their target price on Gildan Activewear from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. CIBC raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Securities increased their price target 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. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.95.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

NYSE:GIL opened at $32.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.09. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.98 and a 1-year high of $38.87. The firm has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.38.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The textile maker reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $695.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $692.94 million. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 16.14% and a return on equity of 24.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is 27.70%.

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.