The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.17 Per Share

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.165 per share on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. This is a boost from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

GAP has a dividend payout ratio of 25.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect GAP to earn $2.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.0%.

GAP Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of GAP stock traded down $0.26 on Tuesday, hitting $22.48. 5,122,731 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,639,067. The stock has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.36. GAP has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $30.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Insider Activity

In other GAP news, major shareholder John J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.18, for a total value of $6,045,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,000,752 shares in the company, valued at $24,198,183.36. The trade was 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 the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were 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 have sold 955,375 shares of company stock valued at $24,316,219 in the last ninety days. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded GAP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of GAP from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Argus raised GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.27.

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.