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

Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $58.20.

GIL has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC dropped their price target on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,970,246 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $327,950,000 after buying an additional 128,674 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,738,691 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $121,073,000 after purchasing an additional 56,400 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear in the 4th quarter worth approximately $97,275,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 604.1% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,850,971 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $86,999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,588,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 276.9% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,769,634 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $83,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,121 shares during the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

Shares of GIL opened at $49.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 2.22. Gildan Activewear has a one year low of $34.20 and a one year high of $55.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $44.25 and its 200-day moving average is $47.81.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The textile maker reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The company had revenue of $711.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $715.29 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is presently 34.75%.

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.