Bank of Nova Scotia Buys 149,918 Shares of Gildan Activewear, Inc. $GIL

Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in Gildan Activewear, Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 38.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 543,580 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 149,918 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 0.29% of Gildan Activewear worth $30,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Washburn Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Washburn Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,257 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 16.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,355 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 8,787 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Tacita Capital Inc lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 11,250 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 2.1% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,510 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Gildan Activewear Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:GIL opened at $49.98 on Friday. Gildan Activewear, Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.00 and a 1 year high of $73.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $9.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.40 and a beta of 1.11.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The textile maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 21.38% and a net margin of 6.10%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Gildan Activewear has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.400 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Gildan Activewear, Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a $0.249 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GIL. Scotia reduced their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Gildan Activewear from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research raised Gildan Activewear from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target (down from $72.00) on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.21.

Gildan Activewear Profile

Gildan Activewear Inc (NYSE:GIL) is a vertically integrated manufacturer and wholesaler of branded basic apparel, including activewear, socks, hosiery and underwear. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, the company produces a wide range of products such as T-shirts, fleece garments, sport shirts, performance wear, and shapewear under its Gildan, Anvil, Comfort Colors, Gold Toe, Peds and Silks brands. Leveraging its in-house knitting, dyeing, cut-and-sew and finishing operations, Gildan supplies blank apparel to screen printers, promotional product distributors and major retailers around the world.

Since its founding in 1984 by Glenn J.