The Gap, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 (NYSE:GPS)

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the apparel retailer on Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%.

GAP has increased its dividend payment by an average of 35.3% per year over the last three years. GAP has a dividend payout ratio of 38.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect GAP to earn $1.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.0%.

GAP Stock Performance

Shares of GPS stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $22.23. 1,286,207 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,458,186. GAP has a 12 month low of $7.22 and a 12 month high of $28.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $22.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a PE ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.42.

GAP (NYSE:GPS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The apparel retailer reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $4.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.22 billion. GAP had a return on equity of 22.56% and a net margin of 3.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.75) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that GAP will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Julie Gruber sold 24,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.00, for a total transaction of $556,140.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,832. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Julie Gruber sold 24,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.00, for a total value of $556,140.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,832. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sarah Gilligan sold 29,425 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.58, for a total transaction of $664,416.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,697 shares in the company, valued at $38,318.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 266,723 shares of company stock valued at $6,886,765. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of GAP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of GAP from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup upgraded shares of GAP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $21.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, TheStreet raised GAP from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.39.

About GAP

The Gap, Inc operates as an apparel retail company. The company offers apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children under the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands. Its products include adult apparel and accessories; and fitness and lifestyle products for use in yoga, training, sports, travel, and everyday activities for women and girls.