The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reissued 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 GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of GAP from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of GAP from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Insider Activity

In other GAP news, major shareholder John J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 1,000,752 shares in the company, valued at $24,198,183.36. The trade was a 19.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 87,557 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 955,375 shares of company stock worth $24,316,219 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

GAP Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of GAP stock opened at $24.10 on Friday. GAP has a 52 week low of $18.34 and a 52 week high of $30.75. 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 company has a market capitalization of $9.09 billion, a PE ratio of 11.16, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.36. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.68.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.81 billion. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GAP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.78%.

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.