Laurus Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New Investment in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Laurus Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,300 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Natixis acquired a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear in the 1st quarter valued at $51,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 2nd quarter worth about $51,000. Tobam bought a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 2nd quarter worth about $53,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,698 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

GIL stock traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $47.49. 114,226 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 720,561. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.98. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.24 and a 1-year high of $48.01. The company has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The textile maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $862.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.10 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 24.96% and a net margin of 13.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on GIL shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Gildan Activewear from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Securities upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.68.

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.