Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Stock Position Raised by Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Free Report) TSE: GIL by 55.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,450 shares of the textile maker's stock after purchasing an additional 9,450 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.'s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $1,244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities raised their target price on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gildan Activewear presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $58.20.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

NYSE GIL traded up $0.22 on Thursday, reaching $49.09. 285,950 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 656,876. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $44.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $7.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.21. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.39 and a 12 month high of $55.39.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The textile maker reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $711.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $715.29 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.226 per share. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. Gildan Activewear's payout ratio is currently 34.75%.

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.