The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised GAP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of GAP in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on GAP from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Insider Activity at GAP

In other GAP news, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 87,557 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.45, for a total value of $2,228,325.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.78, for a total transaction of $6,445,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,579,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,279,561.56. This trade represents a 6.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 955,375 shares of company stock worth $24,316,219 over the last 90 days. 31.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

GAP Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of GAP stock opened at $23.51 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $23.78. GAP has a 12-month low of $18.34 and a 12-month high of $30.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.54. The company has a market capitalization of $8.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.36.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.16. GAP had a return on equity of 29.03% and a net margin of 5.40%. The company had revenue of $3.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. GAP’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio is 27.78%.

About GAP

Gap, Inc operates as a global apparel retail company, which offers clothing, apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children. The firm operates through the following segments: Gap Global, Old Navy Global, Banana Republic Global, Athleta, and Other. The Gap Global segment includes apparel and accessories for men and women under the Gap brand, along with the GapKids, BabyGap, GapMaternity, GapBody, and GapFit collections.