The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.27.

GAP has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of GAP from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on GAP from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of GAP from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $6,045,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,000,752 shares in the company, valued at $24,198,183.36. The trade was a 19.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 87,557 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were 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 sold 955,375 shares of company stock valued at $24,316,219 over the last quarter. 31.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

GAP Price Performance

Shares of GAP opened at $22.60 on Friday. GAP has a one year low of $18.72 and a one year high of $30.75. The company has a market cap of $8.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.46, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

GAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is an increase from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.56%.

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.