The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.50.

GAP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised GAP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Argus upgraded GAP to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other GAP news, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 87,557 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder John J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,000,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,198,183.36. This represents a 19.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 955,375 shares of company stock valued at $24,316,219. Insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

GAP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GAP opened at $24.84 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.75. GAP has a 1 year low of $18.34 and a 1 year high of $30.75. The firm has a market cap of $9.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 2.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

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

GAP Announces Dividend

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

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.