Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE Sells 3,012 Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL)

Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE trimmed its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 217,100 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 3,012 shares during the quarter. Gildan Activewear comprises about 1.5% of Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE owned approximately 0.13% of Gildan Activewear worth $7,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GIL. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Gildan Activewear by 38.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 41,005 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,538,000 after acquiring an additional 11,413 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 41.5% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 32,700 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after buying an additional 9,597 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 36.1% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,381 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 896 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 19,786 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $742,000 after buying an additional 5,212 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 29.4% in the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 33,700 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,268,000 after buying an additional 7,662 shares during the period. 82.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on GIL. UBS Group lowered shares of Gildan Activewear from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $40.00 to $37.00 in a report on Friday, January 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.25.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:GIL traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $36.32. 621,487 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 841,815. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Gildan Activewear Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.98 and a fifty-two week high of $38.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.95, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.38.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The textile maker reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $782.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $753.35 million. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 16.70% and a return on equity of 23.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. This is an increase from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is 27.06%.

Gildan Activewear 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.