Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) Sees Strong Trading Volume

Shares of Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 4,192,396 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 401% from the previous session’s volume of 836,921 shares.The stock last traded at $35.59 and had previously closed at $35.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GIL shares. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Gildan Activewear in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.95.

Gildan Activewear Trading Up 5.8 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.51.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The textile maker reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $695.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $692.94 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 24.00% and a net margin of 16.14%. Gildan Activewear’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. Gildan Activewear’s payout ratio is 27.70%.

Institutional Trading of Gildan Activewear

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,996,538 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $308,013,000 after acquiring an additional 168,601 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 10,075,062 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $333,082,000 after acquiring an additional 169,476 shares in the last quarter. Browning West LP grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Browning West LP now owns 8,640,448 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $285,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,994,900 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,401,045 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $179,293,000 after acquiring an additional 97,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Guardian Capital LP now owns 2,739,070 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $77,128,000 after acquiring an additional 84,744 shares in the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is 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.