Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Shares Purchased by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,580 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,483 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Gildan Activewear in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 61.8% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 872 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 500.0% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 894 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 899.0% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 561.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,423 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Gildan Activewear currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE GIL opened at $51.05 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.41. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.23 and a 52-week high of $55.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $50.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $822.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $805.75 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.226 per share. This is a boost from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.