Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases New Stake in Gildan Activewear, Inc. $GIL

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear, Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 99,365 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $5,125,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.05% of Gildan Activewear as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 49.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,209 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $584,000 after acquiring an additional 4,360 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $77,838,000 after purchasing an additional 503,359 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 2.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,714 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Gildan Activewear by 2.1% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,510 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Gildan Activewear in the 2nd quarter valued at about $317,000. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up from $78.00) on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Friday, July 31st. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 price target (up from $65.00) on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $83.00 price target on Gildan Activewear and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.00.

Gildan Activewear Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE GIL opened at $51.48 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business’s 50 day moving average is $53.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.58. Gildan Activewear, Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.55 and a 52-week high of $73.69. The firm has a market cap of $9.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.01 and a beta of 1.08.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The textile maker reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 21.03% and a net margin of 1.28%.The company’s revenue was up 72.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Gildan Activewear, Inc. will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.249 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is currently 190.38%.

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.