Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 51,518 Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 51,518 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,424,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in Gildan Activewear during the third quarter worth $391,000. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 3rd quarter worth about $544,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 171.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,720 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $835,000 after purchasing an additional 11,184 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear in the 3rd quarter valued at about $462,000. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in Gildan Activewear during the third quarter worth about $1,663,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GIL. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC raised their price target on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

NYSE:GIL opened at $46.01 on Friday. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.23 and a 52 week high of $55.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 2.22. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.61. The firm has a market cap of $6.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.39.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.83 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 the consensus estimate of $805.75 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.226 per share. This is a positive change from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Gildan Activewear’s dividend 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.