The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Increases Dividend to $0.17 Per Share

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of 0.165 per share on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

GAP has a payout ratio of 25.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect GAP to earn $2.14 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 28.0%.

GAP Price Performance

GAP stock traded up $0.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $23.23. The company had a trading volume of 948,551 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,531,515. 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 $18.72 and a 12-month high of $30.75. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.55. The stock has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GAP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research report on Monday, November 18th. 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Barclays lifted their price target on GAP from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Argus upgraded GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, GAP has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.27.

Insider Activity

In other GAP news, 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 value of $6,045,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,000,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,198,183.36. The trade was a 19.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William Sydney Fisher sold 243,868 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.02, for a total transaction of $6,345,445.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,820,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,408,551.34. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their position. 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 over the last 90 days. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About GAP

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.