Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Sells 1,297 Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lowered its position in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,743 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 1,297 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GIL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Gildan Activewear in the 4th quarter worth about $97,275,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 604.1% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,850,971 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $86,999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,588,071 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 545.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,210,314 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $57,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,695 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 776.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 817,204 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $38,414,000 after purchasing an additional 723,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Gildan Activewear in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,262,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. CIBC boosted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. 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 report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Stock Up 1.1 %

GIL opened at $41.13 on Friday. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.23 and a 12 month high of $55.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $46.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.05. The company has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.16.

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). Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The company had revenue of $822.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $805.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. Gildan Activewear’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a $0.226 dividend. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. This is an increase from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is presently 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.