Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Short Interest Down 7.1% in April

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a decline of 7.1% from the April 15th total of 1,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 787,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 0.5 %

Gildan Activewear stock opened at $35.38 on Friday. Gildan Activewear has a 52 week low of $26.98 and a 52 week high of $38.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 2.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 11.95, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.36.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The textile maker reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $695.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $692.94 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 24.00% and a net margin of 16.14%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,917,000. Browning West LP boosted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Browning West LP now owns 8,640,448 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $285,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,994,900 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in Gildan Activewear in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,456,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Gildan Activewear by 43.8% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,762,761 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $65,451,000 after purchasing an additional 537,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 130.8% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 925,970 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $25,952,000 after purchasing an additional 524,691 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Gildan Activewear currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.95.

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.