The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Announces $0.15 Quarterly Dividend

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 12th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share on Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th.

GAP has a dividend payout ratio of 25.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect GAP to earn $2.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.8%.

GAP Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE GAP opened at $24.22 on Monday. GAP has a 52-week low of $18.34 and a 52-week high of $30.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.37.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on GAP shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America increased their price objective 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. Argus upgraded GAP to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on GAP from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.50.

Insider Activity at GAP

In other GAP news, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 87,557 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.45, for a total transaction of $2,228,325.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder John J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.18, for a total transaction of $6,045,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,000,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 ninety days, insiders have sold 955,375 shares of company stock valued at $24,316,219. Company insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

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.