Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Makes New $6.66 Million Investment in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 141,434 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $6,655,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GIL. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 29,646 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,057,520 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $49,763,000 after buying an additional 70,270 shares during the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 82.9% during the 4th quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 19,066 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $897,000 after acquiring an additional 8,642 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,588,071 shares during the period. Finally, Forge First Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 108.0% in the 4th quarter. Forge First Asset Management Inc. now owns 46,600 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $2,191,000 after acquiring an additional 24,200 shares during the period. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on GIL. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC boosted their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Gildan Activewear currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE GIL opened at $45.11 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.64 and a 200-day moving average of $48.67. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.23 and a 1-year high of $55.39.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $822.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $805.75 million. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 28.80%. Gildan Activewear’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.226 per share. This is a boost from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.00%.

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.