The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

GAP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of GAP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of GAP in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America boosted 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. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on GAP from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

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 shares were 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 in the company, valued at $99,408,551.34. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 87,557 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.45, for a total transaction of $2,228,325.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 955,375 shares of company stock worth $24,316,219 in the last ninety days. 31.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

GAP Price Performance

Shares of GAP stock opened at $24.10 on Friday. GAP has a 1-year low of $18.34 and a 1-year high of $30.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.16, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.36. 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 simple moving average is $23.68.

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

GAP Announces Dividend

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

GAP Company Profile

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.