Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) Plans $0.23 Quarterly Dividend

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.226 per share by the textile maker on Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th.

Gildan Activewear has raised its dividend by an average of 21.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Gildan Activewear has a payout ratio of 23.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Gildan Activewear to earn $3.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.7%.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

Shares of GIL stock opened at $50.09 on Friday. Gildan Activewear has a 12-month low of $35.33 and a 12-month high of $55.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The textile maker reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $711.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $715.29 million. Gildan Activewear had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 12.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GIL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, CIBC reduced their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.20.

Institutional Trading of Gildan Activewear

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Gildan Activewear stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) by 40.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,760,253 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 503,359 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 1.16% of Gildan Activewear worth $77,838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 82.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.