GAP (NYSE:GAP) Upgraded at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of GAP (NYSE:GAP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Argus currently has $27.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of GAP in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of GAP from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $16.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of GAP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, GAP currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.27.

GAP Trading Up 0.5 %

GAP stock opened at $24.75 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.95. GAP has a 12 month low of $18.61 and a 12 month high of $30.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 2.36.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $3.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.81 billion. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GAP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. GAP’s payout ratio is currently 27.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.