Analysts Set The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) PT at $29.50

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on GAP from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised GAP from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $28.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of GAP in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised GAP from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Friday.

GAP Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE GAP traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $24.10. The stock had a trading volume of 4,241,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,937,169. The firm's 50 day moving average is $23.68. 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 stock has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.36.

GAP (NYSE:GAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. GAP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.78%.

Insider Activity at GAP

In other news, Director William Sydney Fisher sold 123,950 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.24, for a total value of $3,252,448.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,696,517 shares of the company's stock, valued at $96,996,606.08. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.78, for a total value of $6,445,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,579,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,279,561.56. This represents a 6.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 955,375 shares of company stock valued at $24,316,219. 31.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.