Forge First Asset Management Inc. Buys 24,200 Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Forge First Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 108.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,600 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 24,200 shares during the quarter. Gildan Activewear comprises approximately 0.8% of Forge First Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Forge First Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $2,191,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 61.8% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 872 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 500.0% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 894 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 899.0% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 561.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,423 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GIL. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 2.5 %

GIL opened at $47.99 on Wednesday. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.23 and a twelve month high of $55.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.39.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.30). Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The firm had revenue of $822.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $805.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.226 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This is a positive change from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.