Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

Gildan Activewear, Inc. (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) shares saw strong trading volume on Wednesday . 1,594,666 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 17% from the previous session’s volume of 1,361,015 shares.The stock last traded at $52.9090 and had previously closed at $50.34.

Key Headlines Impacting Gildan Activewear

Here are the key news stories impacting Gildan Activewear this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Gildan issued a statement saying it is confident its current disclosures are accurate and comprehensive, including its financial information and governance practices, which may help reassure investors after the short-seller allegations. Gildan Activewear Issues Statement Regarding Recent Short Seller Report
• Neutral Sentiment: Several firms, including Johnson Fistel, Block & Leviton, BFA Law, Rosen Law Firm, Ademi LLP, and Frank R. Cruz, announced investigations into possible securities law violations following the short-seller report. These announcements reflect litigation risk and uncertainty, but do not by themselves confirm wrongdoing. Gildan Activewear (GIL) Investor Alert: Johnson Fistel Investigates Following Short-Seller Report
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary noted the stock had fallen as much as 25% on the short-seller growth accusations, underscoring that investor sentiment remains highly sensitive to the allegations. Gildan share price drops as much as 25% on short seller growth accusations

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank reissued a “sector outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price (down from $72.00) on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research raised shares of Gildan Activewear from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Gildan Activewear from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Gildan Activewear in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gildan Activewear presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.23.

Gildan Activewear Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.25 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) (TSE:GIL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The textile maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Gildan Activewear had a net margin of 6.10% and a return on equity of 21.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. Gildan Activewear has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.400 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Gildan Activewear, Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Gildan Activewear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a $0.249 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Gildan Activewear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.82%.

Institutional Trading of Gildan Activewear

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,797,429 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $100,027,000 after purchasing an additional 212,217 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,593,203 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $589,508,000 after purchasing an additional 98,134 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 22.7% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $202,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 20.9% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,911,589 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $384,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rubric Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Gildan Activewear by 444.4% in the 1st quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 1,395,790 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $77,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,392 shares during the last quarter. 82.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.