D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 158,000 Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. trimmed its position in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Free Report) TSE: GIL by 36.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 280,477 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 158,000 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.18% of Gildan Activewear worth $13,194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 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 in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 500.0% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 894 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 561.9% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,423 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 1,208 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.83% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GIL. TD Securities raised their target price on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays started coverage on Gildan Activewear in a report on Monday, April 28th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $51.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $58.20.

Gildan Activewear Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:GIL traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $49.86. 28,141 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 646,051. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.82. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.33 and a 12-month high of $55.39. The stock has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.21. 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 - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The textile maker reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The company had revenue of $711.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $715.29 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be given a $0.226 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Gildan Activewear's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.75%.

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.