Willis Investment Counsel Sells 6,864 Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Willis Investment Counsel lowered its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Free Report) TSE: GIL by 19.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,303 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 6,864 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel's holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $1,252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. 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 valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 11,007 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $518,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,022,695 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 76.8% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 19,401 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $913,000 after acquiring an additional 8,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 899.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.83% of the company's stock.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIL traded down $1.55 on Friday, reaching $46.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 516,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 633,864. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.91 and a 52-week high of $55.39. The company has a market cap of $7.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.52, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 2.22.

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 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $711.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $715.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Gildan Activewear's dividend payout ratio is presently 34.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GIL. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC reduced their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Monday, April 28th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $51.00 price target on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gildan Activewear has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.91.

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.