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

Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSE:GIL) (NYSE:GIL) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$68.50.

GIL has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Gildan Activewear from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. National Bankshares increased their price target on Gildan Activewear from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Desjardins raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from C$82.00 to C$87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th.

Gildan Activewear Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of GIL opened at C$66.84 on Friday. Gildan Activewear has a 52-week low of C$44.23 and a 52-week high of C$79.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 101.26. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$72.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$68.11. The company has a market capitalization of C$7.26 billion, a PE ratio of 17.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.64.

Gildan Activewear (TSE:GIL) (NYSE:GIL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported C$0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.82 by C$0.01. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 23.10%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear will post 4.5460385 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This is a positive change from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is 29.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Senior Officer Michael Schroeder sold 4,299 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$78.02, for a total transaction of C$335,428.68. Also, Senior Officer Rhodri Harries sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$78.08, for a total value of C$7,808,000.00. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 110,144 shares of company stock valued at $8,568,586. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Gildan Activewear

Gildan is a vertically integrated designer and manufacturer of basic apparel, including T-shirts, underwear, socks, and hosiery. Its primary market is the sale of blank T-shirts to wholesalers and printers (printwear). Gildan also sells branded clothing through retail and direct-to-consumer channels.