Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 675,731 Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 45.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 812,069 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 675,731 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $38,208,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GIL. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Gildan Activewear by 61.8% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 872 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 500.0% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 894 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Gildan Activewear by 899.0% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 561.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,423 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 1,208 shares during the period. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GIL. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

NYSE:GIL opened at $39.78 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $49.46 and its 200 day moving average is $48.60. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.23 and a 12 month high of $55.39. The company has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

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

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.226 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is 36.00%.

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.