Gildan Activewear (TSE:GIL) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSE:GIL) (NYSE:GIL) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as C$72.71 and last traded at C$72.30, with a volume of 95073 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$72.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GIL. National Bankshares increased their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from C$68.00 to C$74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group raised shares of Gildan Activewear from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Gildan Activewear from C$44.00 to C$54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of C$57.20.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 72.52, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$68.76 and its 200 day moving average price is C$63.05. The firm has a market capitalization of C$11.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.64.

Gildan Activewear (TSE:GIL) (NYSE:GIL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported C$1.16 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.16. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 21.95% and a net margin of 13.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 4.5460385 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gildan Activewear

In other news, Senior Officer Benito Masi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$69.31, for a total transaction of C$693,102.00. Also, Senior Officer Jason De Haan sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$69.35, for a total value of C$1,040,179.14. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.