Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of GAP Call Options (NYSE:GAP)

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders purchased 21,345 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 32% compared to the average daily volume of 16,115 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GAP shares. Barclays increased their price objective on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of GAP from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Argus upgraded shares of GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on GAP from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GAP currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.25.

GAP Price Performance

NYSE GAP traded up $1.50 during trading on Monday, reaching $21.52. 5,314,913 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,245,427. GAP has a 1-year low of $18.54 and a 1-year high of $26.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $22.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.48. The company has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.38.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 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 analyst estimates of $4.07 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. This is an increase from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. GAP’s payout ratio is presently 29.86%.

Insider Transactions at GAP

In other news, Director Elisabeth B. Donohue sold 3,539 shares of GAP stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $84,160. The trade was a 46.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sarah Gilligan sold 29,813 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total value of $606,396.42. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,575.56. The trade was a 91.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 136,731 shares of company stock worth $2,780,326. 31.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GAP

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in GAP stock. California State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 209,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,953,000. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.06% of GAP at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.