Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $60.00.

GIL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. CIBC boosted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th.

Institutional Trading of Gildan Activewear

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 55.6% during the 4th quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 26,450 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after acquiring an additional 9,450 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 262.4% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 45,451 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $2,138,000 after purchasing an additional 32,911 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $402,000. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $173,000. Finally, Twinbeech Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 4th quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Gildan Activewear Stock Down 3.7 %

GIL stock opened at $50.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a PE ratio of 20.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.41. Gildan Activewear has a 52 week low of $32.23 and a 52 week high of $55.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $50.45 and a 200 day moving average of $48.32.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.30). Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The company had revenue of $822.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $805.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This is an increase from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is 36.00%.

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.