GAP (NYSE:GAP) Stock Price Down 3.3% – Here’s What Happened

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP)’s share price fell 3.3% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $24.13 and last traded at $24.1440. 1,568,059 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 9,173,453 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.96.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on GAP. Wall Street Zen cut GAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of GAP from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Citigroup increased their price target on GAP from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of GAP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of GAP in a research note on Monday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.57.

GAP Trading Up 3.7%

The firm has a market capitalization of $10.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 2.17. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.90 billion. GAP had a return on equity of 27.04% and a net margin of 5.86%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. GAP has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Gap, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 7th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 7th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other GAP news, Director Robert J. Fisher sold 500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.90, for a total transaction of $11,450,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,829,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,795,595.80. This trade represents a 15.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William Sydney Fisher sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.86, for a total transaction of $4,772,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,253,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,627,388.58. This represents a 5.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 943,064 shares of company stock worth $22,011,784. 30.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of GAP

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GAP. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in GAP in the 1st quarter valued at $7,207,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new position in GAP during the first quarter valued at $63,674,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of GAP in the first quarter valued at about $3,532,000. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of GAP during the first quarter worth about $264,000. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of GAP during the 1st quarter worth about $856,000. 58.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About GAP

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.