The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $28.50.

GAP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Argus raised GAP to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th.

GAP Stock Performance

NYSE:GAP opened at $24.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.09 billion, a PE ratio of 11.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 2.37. GAP has a 1 year low of $18.34 and a 1 year high of $30.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.16. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $3.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

GAP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.78%.

Insider Activity at GAP

In related news, Director William Sydney Fisher sold 243,868 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.02, for a total value of $6,345,445.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,820,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,408,551.34. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder John J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.18, for a total value of $6,045,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,000,752 shares in the company, valued at $24,198,183.36. This represents a 19.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 955,375 shares of company stock valued at $24,316,219. Corporate insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

GAP Company Profile

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.