Analysts Set Gildan Activewear, Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Target Price at $79.07

Shares of Gildan Activewear, Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.00.

GIL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target (up from $65.00) on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up from $78.00) on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Gildan Activewear from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st.

Gildan Activewear Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE GIL opened at $57.03 on Friday. Gildan Activewear has a 1-year low of $46.55 and a 1-year high of $73.69. The company has a 50-day moving average of $54.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.99. The company has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a PE ratio of 109.68 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The textile maker reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.17. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 1.28% and a return on equity of 21.03%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Gildan Activewear’s revenue was up 72.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Gildan Activewear will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.249 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 192.31%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gildan Activewear

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 10,432.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 60,138 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $3,756,000 after purchasing an additional 59,567 shares during the last quarter. Barington Companies Management LLC acquired a new position in Gildan Activewear in the fourth quarter valued at about $15,941,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Gildan Activewear by 15.7% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,706,078 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $373,122,000 after buying an additional 909,001 shares during the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Gildan Activewear during the fourth quarter worth about $3,104,000. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear during the 4th quarter worth about $4,353,000. 82.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Gildan Activewear

Gildan Activewear Inc (NYSE:GIL) is a vertically integrated manufacturer and wholesaler of branded basic apparel, including activewear, socks, hosiery and underwear. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, the company produces a wide range of products such as T-shirts, fleece garments, sport shirts, performance wear, and shapewear under its Gildan, Anvil, Comfort Colors, Gold Toe, Peds and Silks brands. Leveraging its in-house knitting, dyeing, cut-and-sew and finishing operations, Gildan supplies blank apparel to screen printers, promotional product distributors and major retailers around the world.

Since its founding in 1984 by Glenn J.