Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on GAP (NYSE:GAP)

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 44,102 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 236% compared to the typical volume of 13,116 call options.

GAP Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE GAP opened at $23.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.54. GAP has a 12 month low of $18.34 and a 12 month high of $30.75. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.51.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $3.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that GAP will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GAP has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of GAP from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America upped their target price on GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Argus upgraded GAP to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GAP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.50.

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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of GAP stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.78, for a total value of $6,445,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,579,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,279,561.56. This represents a 6.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 955,375 shares of company stock worth $24,316,219 over the last three months. 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.