Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSE:GIL) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSE:GIL) (NYSE:GIL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$68.50.

GIL has been the subject of several research reports. National Bankshares set a C$83.00 price objective on Gildan Activewear and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Desjardins boosted their target price on Gildan Activewear from C$82.00 to C$87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Gildan Activewear from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

Shares of GIL opened at C$67.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 101.26, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 2.31. Gildan Activewear has a fifty-two week low of C$44.23 and a fifty-two week high of C$79.11. The business’s 50-day moving average is C$72.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$68.42. The company has a market capitalization of C$7.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.97, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.64.

Gildan Activewear (TSE:GIL) (NYSE:GIL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported C$0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.82 by C$0.01. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 23.10% and a net margin of 13.05%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Gildan Activewear will post 4.5460385 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.226 per share. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. This is a boost from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is 29.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Rhodri Harries sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$78.08, for a total value of C$7,808,000.00. Also, Senior Officer John Maness sold 1,661 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$68.77, for a total value of C$114,234.28. Insiders have sold 110,144 shares of company stock worth $8,568,586 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

About Gildan Activewear

Gildan is a vertically integrated designer and manufacturer of basic apparel, including T-shirts, underwear, socks, and hosiery. Its primary market is the sale of blank T-shirts to wholesalers and printers (printwear). Gildan also sells branded clothing through retail and direct-to-consumer channels.