GAP (NYSE:GAP) Given New $30.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) had its price target increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on GAP. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research report on Friday. Argus raised shares of GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GAP presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.33.

GAP Stock Up 19.3 %

Shares of NYSE GAP opened at $23.24 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. GAP has a 52 week low of $18.54 and a 52 week high of $30.75. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $23.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.36.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.18. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.07 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that GAP will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. GAP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William Sydney Fisher sold 123,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.24, for a total value of $3,252,448.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,696,517 shares in the company, valued at $96,996,606.08. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder John J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 1,000,752 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,198,183.36. The trade was a 19.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.