Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Sells 1,884 Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. reduced its position in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,782 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 1,884 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 120.6% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,646 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 39.3% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,104 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 60.4% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,213 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co acquired a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 4th quarter worth $202,000. 82.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded Gildan Activewear from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Scotiabank raised 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 report on Friday, February 9th. Citigroup upped their price target 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. Finally, CIBC raised 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.25.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIL opened at $35.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 2.33. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.98 and a 52 week high of $38.87. The firm has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a PE ratio of 11.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $35.56 and its 200-day moving average is $33.77.

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

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This is a boost from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.06%.

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.