Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Has $11.41 Million Stock Holdings in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. cut its position in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Free Report) TSE: GIL by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 343,612 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 35,819 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.20% of Gildan Activewear worth $11,414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,456,000. Galibier Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,255,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 130.8% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 925,970 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $25,952,000 after purchasing an additional 524,691 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 13.5% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,548,189 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $71,933,000 after purchasing an additional 303,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $308,013,000 after purchasing an additional 168,601 shares in the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GIL shares. CIBC lifted their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.25.

Gildan Activewear Trading Up 2.3 %

GIL stock traded up $0.81 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $35.70. The company had a trading volume of 651,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 834,675. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.75. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.98 and a 12 month high of $38.87. The stock has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.78, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.205 per share. This is a boost from Gildan Activewear's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Gildan Activewear's payout ratio is presently 27.06%.

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.