Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.23 on April 7th

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of 0.226 per share by the textile maker on Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This is a 48.7% increase from Gildan Activewear’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

Gildan Activewear has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.1% annually over the last three years. Gildan Activewear has a dividend payout ratio of 22.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Down 1.5 %

GIL opened at $49.55 on Monday. Gildan Activewear has a fifty-two week low of $32.23 and a fifty-two week high of $55.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $50.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.48. The company has a market capitalization of $7.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.39.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued 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 28.80%. The firm had revenue of $822.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $805.75 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GIL shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Gildan Activewear from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Gildan Activewear Company Profile

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.