GAP (NYSE:GAP) Trading 4.9% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) shot up 4.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $22.14 and last traded at $22.26. 1,249,959 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 6,444,934 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.22.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GAP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on GAP from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays increased their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of GAP from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of GAP in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the 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 company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $22.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.14.

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

GAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. This is a boost from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.86%.

Insider Activity at GAP

In other GAP news, insider Julie Gruber sold 1,537 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total transaction of $30,109.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $732,568.05. This trade represents a 3.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 80,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.35, for a total value of $1,628,590.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,290 shares in the company, valued at $168,701.50. This represents a 90.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 177,495 shares of company stock worth $3,598,459 over the last ninety days. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GAP

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in GAP stock. California State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor 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 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.