GAP (NYSE:GAP) Upgraded at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of GAP (NYSE:GAP) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $26.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $16.00.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of GAP in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of GAP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, GAP presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.50.

GAP Price Performance

Shares of GAP stock opened at $24.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a PE ratio of 11.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $23.68. GAP has a 12 month low of $18.34 and a 12 month high of $30.75.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.16. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $3.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that GAP will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at GAP

In related news, major shareholder John J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.18, for a total value of $6,045,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,000,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,198,183.36. This represents a 19.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 87,557 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.45, for a total value of $2,228,325.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 955,375 shares of company stock worth $24,316,219 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 31.00% 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.