Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) has received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $52.61.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Securities increased their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Gildan Activewear from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, CIBC upped their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Gildan Activewear Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:GIL opened at $46.91 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.41. Gildan Activewear has a twelve month low of $30.68 and a twelve month high of $50.60.

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

Gildan Activewear Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.152 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.61 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIL. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear in the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,262,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its position in Gildan Activewear by 28.0% during the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,863,618 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $70,696,000 after acquiring an additional 407,113 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 14.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,568,733 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $97,290,000 after acquiring an additional 324,304 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 332.7% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 344,666 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $13,070,000 after purchasing an additional 265,020 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,841,572 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $322,298,000 after purchasing an additional 240,375 shares in the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.