Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Shares Bought by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio grew its position in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Free Report) TSE: GIL by 443.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 588,202 shares of the textile maker's stock after acquiring an additional 480,000 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned about 0.35% of Gildan Activewear worth $19,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.6% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,996,538 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $308,013,000 after acquiring an additional 168,601 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Gildan Activewear by 1.6% in the 3rd 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 period. Browning West LP increased its stake in Gildan Activewear by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Browning West LP now owns 6,395,548 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $212,268,000 after buying an additional 425,000 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Gildan Activewear by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,884,333 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $81,092,000 after buying an additional 69,563 shares during the period. Finally, Guardian Capital LP increased its stake in Gildan Activewear by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Guardian Capital LP now owns 2,739,070 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $77,128,000 after buying an additional 84,744 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.83% of the company's stock.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

GIL traded down $0.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.23. 547,126 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 844,773. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.98 and a 1 year high of $38.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.38. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $35.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.49.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The textile maker reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 16.70% and a return on equity of 23.19%. The company had revenue of $782.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $753.35 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. Gildan Activewear's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. This is a positive change from Gildan Activewear's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. Gildan Activewear's payout ratio is 27.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on GIL shares. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. UBS Group cut shares of Gildan Activewear from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $40.00 to $37.00 in a report on Friday, January 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gildan Activewear presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.25.

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.