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

Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.50.

Several equities analysts have commented on GIL shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Gildan Activewear from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Gildan Activewear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $39.00 to $51.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aristides Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 4.3% in the second quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 7,617 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Gildan Activewear by 194.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,958 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,098,000 after purchasing an additional 19,112 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Gildan Activewear by 26.4% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,743 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456 shares in the last quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gildan Activewear during the second quarter worth $703,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 14.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,568,733 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $97,290,000 after buying an additional 324,304 shares in the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of GIL stock opened at $44.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.43. Gildan Activewear has a 1 year low of $26.99 and a 1 year high of $45.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The textile maker reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.03. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 24.96%. The company had revenue of $862.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $851.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Gildan Activewear will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.70%.

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.