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

Shares of 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.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Argus upgraded GAP to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of GAP from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, GAP presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at GAP

In other GAP news, CEO Horacio Barbeito sold 75,385 shares of GAP stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $1,507,700.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

GAP Trading Up 12.8 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $21.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.51, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 2.35.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.15. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Gap, Inc. will post 1.87 EPS for the current year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. 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.