GAP (NYSE:GAP) Stock Price Up 3.4% – Here’s What Happened

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP)’s stock price was up 3.4% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $20.78 and last traded at $20.89. Approximately 787,441 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 6,096,403 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.21.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on GAP from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Bank of America raised their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on GAP from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five investment 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, GAP has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.25.

GAP Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $22.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.38.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.18. GAP had a return on equity of 29.03% and a net margin of 5.40%. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.07 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Gap, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This is an increase from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. GAP’s payout ratio is 29.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at GAP

In other GAP news, Director Elisabeth B. Donohue sold 3,539 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.04, for a total value of $74,460.56. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,160. This represents a 46.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 80,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.35, for a total transaction of $1,628,590.15. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 8,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $168,701.50. This trade represents a 90.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 136,731 shares of company stock worth $2,780,326 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GAP

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in GAP stock. California State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new stake in The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 209,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,953,000. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.06% of GAP at the end of the most recent reporting period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.81% of the company’s stock.

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.