Candriam S.C.A. Invests $940,000 in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Candriam S.C.A. bought a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 19,989 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $940,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 3.6% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,841,572 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $322,298,000 after purchasing an additional 240,375 shares in the last quarter. Simcoe Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 10.5% in the third quarter. Simcoe Capital Management LLC now owns 2,387,865 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $112,492,000 after purchasing an additional 226,695 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 2.8% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,618,420 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $76,244,000 after purchasing an additional 44,725 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 545.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,210,314 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $57,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 192.7% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 742,149 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $34,918,000 after acquiring an additional 488,602 shares during the period. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. TD Securities lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Gildan Activewear presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GIL opened at $49.29 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.54. The company has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.39. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.23 and a 12-month high of $55.39.

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

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.226 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is 36.00%.

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.