Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSE:GIL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSE:GIL) (NYSE:GIL) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$54.00.

Several brokerages have issued reports on GIL. BMO Capital Markets raised Gildan Activewear to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Desjardins raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from C$63.00 to C$67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. National Bankshares upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from C$57.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from C$46.00 to C$50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of GIL opened at C$62.00 on Friday. Gildan Activewear has a 1-year low of C$36.42 and a 1-year high of C$63.60. The company has a market capitalization of C$10.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 72.52, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$57.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$52.21.

Gildan Activewear (TSE:GIL) (NYSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.99 by C$0.02. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 21.95%. The firm had revenue of C$1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$1.17 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear will post 4.5683346 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. This is an increase from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is currently 34.15%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Senior Officer Rhodri Harries sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$61.20, for a total transaction of C$1,989,000.00. In other Gildan Activewear news, Senior Officer Rhodri Harries sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$61.20, for a total transaction of C$1,989,000.00. Also, Senior Officer Benito Masi sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$41.55, for a total transaction of C$2,077,495.00. In the last quarter, insiders sold 101,620 shares of company stock valued at $4,870,471. Insiders own 2.26% 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.