Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) Hits New 1-Year High After Dividend Announcement

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $53.75 and last traded at $53.10, with a volume of 143310 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $51.98.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This is a positive change from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is currently 32.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIL has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. CIBC boosted their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Gildan Activewear from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Stock Down 1.7 %

The company has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.47 and a 200 day moving average of $47.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.30). Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 27.49%. The firm had revenue of $822.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $805.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. Gildan Activewear’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWM LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $80,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,248 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,505 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gildan Activewear by 96.1% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 810 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Gildan Activewear by 191.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 57,538 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $2,711,000 after purchasing an additional 37,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Gildan Activewear by 7,709.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 125,181 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $5,899,000 after purchasing an additional 123,578 shares in the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.