Trexquant Investment LP Buys Shares of 40,021 Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 40,021 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,883,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 61.8% during the 4th 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 period. Cooper Financial Group increased its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 2.1% in 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 holdings in Gildan Activewear by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,069 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Willis Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 35,167 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the period. 82.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Gildan Activewear Stock Down 3.7 %

Gildan Activewear stock opened at $37.69 on Wednesday. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.23 and a 52 week high of $55.39. The stock has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.08, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $48.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $822.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $805.75 million. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 28.80%. Gildan Activewear’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 EPS 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 issued a $0.226 dividend. This is a positive change from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is 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.