GAP (NYSE:GAP) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $14.00 to $16.00. The stock had previously closed at $22.04, but opened at $25.80. UBS Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. GAP shares last traded at $23.98, with a volume of 9,766,223 shares trading hands.

GAP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of GAP from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Argus raised GAP to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on GAP from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America upped their price target on GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, GAP has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.30.

Insider Transactions at GAP

In related news, CEO Horacio Barbeito sold 75,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $1,507,700.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

GAP Trading Up 12.9 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.39. The stock has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 2.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.49.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.15. GAP had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 28.89%. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. Analysts predict that The Gap, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.41%. GAP’s payout ratio is 29.70%.

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.