GAP (NYSE:GAP) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of GAP (NYSE:GAP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on GAP. Citigroup lifted their target price on GAP from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of GAP from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of GAP from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.57.

GAP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GAP opened at $26.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a PE ratio of 11.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 2.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. GAP has a twelve month low of $16.99 and a twelve month high of $29.29. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.46.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.04. GAP had a return on equity of 24.91% and a net margin of 5.57%.The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

GAP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 7th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio is 29.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert J. Fisher sold 500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.45, for a total value of $13,725,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,329,502 shares in the company, valued at $63,944,829.90. This represents a 17.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Elisabeth B. Donohue sold 3,000 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.11, for a total transaction of $81,330.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,110. This represents a 75.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 1,819,044 shares of company stock worth $47,467,065 in the last three months. 31.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GAP

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in GAP in the 1st quarter valued at about $7,207,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of GAP in the first quarter worth $63,674,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of GAP in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,532,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in GAP during the first quarter valued at approximately $856,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its stake in GAP by 101.0% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,184,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,453,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600,041 shares during the last quarter. 58.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.