Natixis Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 508,700 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 14,335 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.33% of Gildan Activewear worth $23,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 61.8% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 872 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 16,268 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Willis Investment Counsel raised its stake in 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. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 80.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,459 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 649 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

Shares of Gildan Activewear stock opened at $46.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $50.72 and a 200 day moving average of $48.64. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.23 and a 12 month high of $55.39.

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 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.226 dividend. This is an increase from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is 36.00%.

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.