Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) Sees Large Volume Increase – Here’s What Happened

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 4,290,567 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 491% from the previous session’s volume of 726,154 shares.The stock last traded at $48.89 and had previously closed at $48.91.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. CIBC lifted their target price on Gildan Activewear from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $47.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Gildan Activewear from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Gildan Activewear from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gildan Activewear has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.85.

Gildan Activewear Price Performance

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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $47.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.13. The firm has a market cap of $7.55 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.44.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The textile maker reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $882.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Gildan Activewear’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gildan Activewear Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gildan Activewear Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.152 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.61 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.41%.

Institutional Trading of Gildan Activewear

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GIL. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Gildan Activewear in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Gildan Activewear by 96.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 810 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Natixis bought a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear in the first quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new stake in Gildan Activewear in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Tobam bought a new position in shares of Gildan Activewear during the second quarter valued at $53,000. 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.