Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a decrease of 7.1% from the April 15th total of 1,540,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 787,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.6% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,996,538 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $308,013,000 after acquiring an additional 168,601 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 10,075,062 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $333,082,000 after buying an additional 169,476 shares during the last quarter. Browning West LP grew its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Browning West LP now owns 8,640,448 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $285,653,000 after buying an additional 1,994,900 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,401,045 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $179,293,000 after buying an additional 97,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Capital LP boosted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Guardian Capital LP now owns 2,739,070 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $77,128,000 after acquiring an additional 84,744 shares during the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 0.5 %

GIL stock traded down $0.19 on Friday, hitting $35.38. 1,679,293 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 625,998. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.38. The business's fifty day moving average is $35.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.36. Gildan Activewear has a twelve month low of $26.98 and a twelve month high of $38.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The textile maker reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.07. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 24.00% and a net margin of 16.14%. The company had revenue of $695.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $692.94 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Gildan Activewear's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GIL shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $41.00 price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.95.

Gildan Activewear Company 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.