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

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.95.

GIL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $41.00 price target on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear in the fourth quarter valued at $34,456,000. Strs Ohio boosted its position in Gildan Activewear by 443.6% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 588,202 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $19,547,000 after purchasing an additional 480,000 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Gildan Activewear by 3,837,975.0% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 153,523 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $5,075,000 after purchasing an additional 153,519 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in Gildan Activewear by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,712,021 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $89,732,000 after purchasing an additional 29,193 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Gildan Activewear during the fourth quarter worth $70,917,000. 82.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

Gildan Activewear stock opened at $37.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Gildan Activewear has a 1 year low of $26.99 and a 1 year high of $39.07. The company has a market cap of $6.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.81, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50-day moving average is $36.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.95.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The textile maker reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $695.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $692.94 million. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 16.14% and a return on equity of 24.00%. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd were paid a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.36%.

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.