Gildan Activewear, Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Position Cut by Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lowered its position in shares of Gildan Activewear, Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Free Report) TSE: GIL by 16.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,139,385 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 224,340 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 0.75% of Gildan Activewear worth $50,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GIL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Gildan Activewear in the 4th quarter valued at about $97,275,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 604.1% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,850,971 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $86,999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,588,071 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 276.9% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,769,634 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $83,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,121 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 545.1% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,210,314 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $57,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 776.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 817,204 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $38,414,000 after buying an additional 723,962 shares during the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

GIL stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $47.25. The company had a trading volume of 156,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 630,996. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a PE ratio of 18.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $46.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.67. Gildan Activewear, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.91 and a fifty-two week high of $55.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The textile maker reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 30.61% and a net margin of 12.38%. The firm had revenue of $711.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $715.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear, Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a $0.226 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Gildan Activewear's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC cut their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank raised Gildan Activewear to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Gildan Activewear currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.91.

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.