Short Interest in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Drops By 9.0%

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,710,000 shares, a decline of 9.0% from the November 30th total of 1,880,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 577,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Gildan Activewear

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear in the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,262,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 35,135 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,702,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 76.1% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 40,798 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after purchasing an additional 17,634 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Gildan Activewear in the third quarter valued at about $597,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear in the third quarter worth about $969,000. Institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

Shares of GIL stock traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $47.05. 543,813 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 700,844. Gildan Activewear has a 52 week low of $30.68 and a 52 week high of $50.60. The stock has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $48.51 and its 200-day moving average is $44.71.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The textile maker reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 26.88% and a net margin of 13.06%. The firm had revenue of $891.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $882.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.152 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.61 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Securities upped their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. CIBC raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.05.

Gildan Activewear Company Profile

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.