Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Shares Acquired by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 6.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,135 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $1,702,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 204.8% during the second quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 881,100 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $33,416,000 after purchasing an additional 591,980 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 28.0% during the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,863,618 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $70,696,000 after purchasing an additional 407,113 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 14.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,568,733 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $97,290,000 after purchasing an additional 324,304 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 2.7% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 10,252,785 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $388,786,000 after purchasing an additional 271,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 332.7% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 344,666 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $13,070,000 after purchasing an additional 265,020 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIL has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $47.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.05.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

Shares of GIL opened at $46.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a PE ratio of 18.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.49. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.68 and a 12-month high of $50.60.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The textile maker reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 26.88%. The firm had revenue of $891.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $882.85 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. Gildan Activewear’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.152 dividend. This represents a $0.61 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.41%.

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.