Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.23 on June 16th

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.226 per share by the textile maker on Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th.

Gildan Activewear has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Gildan Activewear has a dividend payout ratio of 23.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Gildan Activewear to earn $3.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.7%.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIL opened at $50.09 on Friday. Gildan Activewear has a 1-year low of $35.33 and a 1-year high of $55.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $44.28 and a 200-day moving average of $47.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Institutional Trading of Gildan Activewear

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Gildan Activewear stock. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 49.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,209 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,360 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Gildan Activewear were worth $584,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GIL. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays began coverage on Gildan Activewear in a report on Monday, April 28th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $51.00 price target for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC reduced their price target on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gildan Activewear has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $58.20.

About Gildan Activewear

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.