Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Short Interest Down 10.3% in September

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,140,000 shares, a decrease of 10.3% from the August 31st total of 3,500,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 607,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.2 days. Approximately 2.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Gildan Activewear from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Gildan Activewear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Gildan Activewear during the first quarter worth $692,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,114,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 563,498 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $20,933,000 after acquiring an additional 78,338 shares during the last quarter. Browning West LP increased its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Browning West LP now owns 8,640,448 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $285,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,994,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Gildan Activewear during the fourth quarter worth about $859,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

Shares of GIL traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $46.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 637,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 742,741. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Gildan Activewear has a 1-year low of $27.24 and a 1-year high of $47.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.06.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The textile maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 24.96% and a net margin of 13.01%. The company had revenue of $862.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $851.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. Gildan Activewear’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Gildan Activewear will post 2.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is 27.70%.

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.