Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 45,500 Shares of Gildan Activewear, Inc. $GIL

Renaissance Technologies LLC cut its stake in Gildan Activewear, Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 26.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 124,552 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 45,500 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.07% of Gildan Activewear worth $6,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 49.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,209 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $584,000 after purchasing an additional 4,360 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 40.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,760,253 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $77,838,000 after buying an additional 503,359 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 2.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 186,585 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $8,251,000 after buying an additional 4,714 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 2.1% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,510 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear in the second quarter valued at approximately $317,000. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

GIL stock opened at $56.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.34. The stock has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a PE ratio of 109.31 and a beta of 1.11. Gildan Activewear, Inc. has a one year low of $46.00 and a one year high of $73.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The textile maker reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.17. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 1.28% and a return on equity of 21.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 72.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Gildan Activewear, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.249 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 192.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research note on Friday. Scotia raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $83.00 price target on shares of Gildan Activewear and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Gildan Activewear from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.07.

About Gildan Activewear

Gildan Activewear Inc (NYSE:GIL) is a vertically integrated manufacturer and wholesaler of branded basic apparel, including activewear, socks, hosiery and underwear. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, the company produces a wide range of products such as T-shirts, fleece garments, sport shirts, performance wear, and shapewear under its Gildan, Anvil, Comfort Colors, Gold Toe, Peds and Silks brands. Leveraging its in-house knitting, dyeing, cut-and-sew and finishing operations, Gildan supplies blank apparel to screen printers, promotional product distributors and major retailers around the world.

Since its founding in 1984 by Glenn J.