Brokerages Set The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Price Target at $29.25

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.25.

Several research firms recently commented on GAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of GAP from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of GAP from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Finally, Argus raised shares of GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st.

GAP Trading Up 5.5 %

NYSE:GAP opened at $22.38 on Thursday. GAP has a 52 week low of $18.54 and a 52 week high of $26.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.16 and its 200-day moving average is $22.52. The firm has a market cap of $8.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.14. 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 (NYSE:GAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.18. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.07 billion. Equities analysts expect that GAP will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sarah Gilligan sold 29,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total value of $606,396.42. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,634 shares in the company, valued at $53,575.56. The trade was a 91.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Elisabeth B. Donohue sold 3,539 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.04, for a total value of $74,460.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,160. This represents a 46.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 177,495 shares of company stock worth $3,598,459. 31.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in GAP stock. California State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 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.

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.