Brokerages Set Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Target Price at $51.05

Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.05.

GIL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. CIBC lifted their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price 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 lifted their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $47.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

GIL stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $48.82. The company had a trading volume of 639,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,048. The company has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.40. Gildan Activewear has a twelve month low of $30.68 and a twelve month high of $50.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 2.31. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.87.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL - Get Free Report) TSE: GIL last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The textile maker reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 26.88% and a net margin of 13.06%. The firm had revenue of $891.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $882.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Gildan Activewear will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.152 per share. This represents a $0.61 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Gildan Activewear's payout ratio is 32.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 10,252,785 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $388,786,000 after acquiring an additional 271,273 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,841,572 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $322,298,000 after buying an additional 240,375 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 324,304 shares during the last quarter. Simcoe Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Gildan Activewear by 10.5% during the third quarter. Simcoe Capital Management LLC now owns 2,387,865 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $112,492,000 after acquiring an additional 226,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 28.0% in the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,863,618 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $70,696,000 after purchasing an additional 407,113 shares during the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.