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

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) was upgraded by investment analysts at UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $60.00 price objective on the textile maker’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $50.00. UBS Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 24.38% from the stock’s current price.

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

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

NYSE:GIL opened at $48.24 on Friday. Gildan Activewear has a twelve month low of $30.68 and a twelve month high of $50.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.30 and a 200-day moving average of $45.17. The firm has a market cap of $7.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Gildan Activewear during the second quarter valued at approximately $284,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 43.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 122,159 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $4,633,000 after purchasing an additional 37,288 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden acquired a new position in Gildan Activewear during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,494,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 11.0% during the second quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 11,090 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 12.3% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 315,851 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $11,977,000 after purchasing an additional 34,534 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.83% of the company’s stock.

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.