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

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.50.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised GAP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Argus upgraded shares of GAP to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on GAP from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of GAP in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

GAP Price Performance

Shares of GAP stock opened at $24.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap 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. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $23.01. GAP has a 12 month low of $18.34 and a 12 month high of $30.75.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last posted 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 analyst estimates of $3.81 billion. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that GAP will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. GAP’s payout ratio is currently 27.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other GAP news, 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,000,752 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,198,183.36. This trade represents a 19.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William Sydney Fisher sold 243,868 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 3,820,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,408,551.34. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 955,375 shares of company stock valued at $24,316,219 over the last quarter. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.