The Gap, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 (NYSE:GPS)

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the apparel retailer on Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th.

GAP has raised its dividend by an average of 35.3% per year over the last three years. GAP has a payout ratio of 31.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect GAP to earn $1.87 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 32.1%.

GAP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPS opened at $23.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 2.38. GAP has a 52 week low of $8.90 and a 52 week high of $30.75. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $23.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

GAP (NYSE:GPS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The apparel retailer reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.27. GAP had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 27.57%. The company had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.29 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that GAP will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of GAP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Cowen raised their target price on shares of GAP from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of GAP from $24.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, KGI Securities raised their target price on shares of GAP from $9.10 to $25.20 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GAP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.98.

Insider Activity at GAP

In other news, Director Tracy Gardner sold 2,934 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.48, for a total transaction of $68,890.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 51,901 shares in the company, valued at $1,218,635.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 20,000 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.01, for a total transaction of $580,200.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Tracy Gardner sold 2,934 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.48, for a total transaction of $68,890.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 51,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,218,635.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,132 shares of company stock worth $654,003. Company insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

GAP Company Profile

The Gap, Inc operates as an apparel retail company. The company offers apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children under the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands. Its products include adult apparel and accessories; and fitness and lifestyle products for use in yoga, training, sports, travel, and everyday activities for women and girls.