Willis Investment Counsel Has $1.63 Million Holdings in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Willis Investment Counsel grew its holdings in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 3.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 34,545 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,296 shares during the period. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $1,627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GIL. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Gildan Activewear in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $692,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 16.1% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 563,498 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $20,933,000 after acquiring an additional 78,338 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear during the fourth quarter valued at $859,000. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 101.7% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 64,268 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $2,386,000 after purchasing an additional 32,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Gildan Activewear in the 4th quarter worth about $3,690,000. 82.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GIL shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gildan Activewear currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.77.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

NYSE:GIL opened at $47.66 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.90 billion, a PE ratio of 16.10, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.43. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.24 and a 1 year high of $47.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.73.

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

Gildan Activewear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is 27.70%.

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.