Silvant Capital Management LLC Invests $2.47 Million in Gildan Activewear, Inc. $GIL

Silvant Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear, Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 47,908 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,472,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barington Companies Management LLC purchased a new position in Gildan Activewear in the 4th quarter worth about $15,941,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,706,078 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $373,122,000 after buying an additional 909,001 shares in the last quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new stake in Gildan Activewear in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,353,000. VELA Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Gildan Activewear in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,104,000. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Gildan Activewear by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 613,324 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $31,648,000 after acquiring an additional 75,530 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Gildan Activewear Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of Gildan Activewear stock opened at $55.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.66 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $53.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.64. Gildan Activewear, Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.55 and a 1 year high of $73.69.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The textile maker reported $1.28 EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 72.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Gildan Activewear, Inc. will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GIL shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $83.00 price target on Gildan Activewear and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up from $78.00) on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank restated a “sector outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Friday, July 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.00.

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.