Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Sells 23,487 Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lessened its holdings in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,000 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 23,487 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 204.8% in the second quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 881,100 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $33,416,000 after acquiring an additional 591,980 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 28.0% during the 2nd 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. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,573,695 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $59,674,000 after purchasing an additional 377,135 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,568,733 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $97,290,000 after acquiring an additional 324,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 10,252,785 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $388,786,000 after acquiring an additional 271,273 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GIL shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. CIBC increased their target price on Gildan Activewear from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $47.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.05.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE GIL opened at $48.25 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $48.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.41. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.68 and a 52-week high of $50.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The textile maker reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 26.88% and a net margin of 13.06%. The firm had revenue of $891.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $882.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Gildan Activewear’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.152 per share. This represents a $0.61 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.41%.

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.