Gildan Activewear (TSE:GIL) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSE:GIL) (NYSE:GIL)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from C$44.00 to C$54.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Gildan Activewear traded as high as C$63.68 and last traded at C$63.18, with a volume of 101899 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$63.09.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. National Bankshares boosted their target price on Gildan Activewear from C$57.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Desjardins raised their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from C$63.00 to C$67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from C$46.00 to C$50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Gildan Activewear to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gildan Activewear currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of C$54.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michener Chandlee purchased 1,196 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$40.85 per share, for a total transaction of C$48,856.60. In other news, Senior Officer Benito Masi sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.55, for a total value of C$2,077,495.00. Also, Director Michener Chandlee bought 1,196 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of C$40.85 per share, with a total value of C$48,856.60. Insiders have sold 101,620 shares of company stock worth $4,870,471 in the last quarter. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$58.23 and its 200-day moving average price is C$52.57. The company has a market cap of C$10.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 72.52.

Gildan Activewear (TSE:GIL) (NYSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.99 by C$0.02. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 21.95% and a net margin of 13.01%. The firm had revenue of C$1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$1.17 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 4.5684287 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of ∞. This is a positive change from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.84%.

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.