Swiss National Bank Sells 40,700 Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 410,300 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 40,700 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.27% of Gildan Activewear worth $19,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position 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 buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 16,268 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Willis Investment Counsel lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 35,167 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,655,000 after buying an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 80.1% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,459 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 649 shares during the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of GIL stock opened at $46.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.72 and a 200-day moving average of $48.64. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.23 and a 1-year high of $55.39.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $822.00 million during 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. On average, equities research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. This is a boost from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.00%.

Gildan Activewear Company 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.