Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) Raised to “Buy” at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. UBS Group currently has $60.00 target price on the textile maker’s stock, up from their prior target price of $50.00.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on GIL. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Gildan Activewear currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $53.35.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

GIL opened at $48.24 on Friday. Gildan Activewear has a 1 year low of $30.68 and a 1 year high of $50.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $48.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.22. The company has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.41.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The textile maker reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 26.88%. The business had revenue of $891.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $882.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.152 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.61 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is 32.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Gildan Activewear in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Gildan Activewear by 96.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 810 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,698 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Gildan Activewear by 33.1% in the second quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,709 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the period. Finally, Laurus Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Gildan Activewear in the 3rd quarter worth $203,000. Institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

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.