Sarah Gilligan Sells 29,813 Shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Stock

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) insider Sarah Gilligan sold 29,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total value of $606,396.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,575.56. This represents a 91.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

GAP Stock Down 3.8 %

GAP stock opened at $19.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.72 and a 200-day moving average of $22.53. The Gap, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.54 and a fifty-two week high of $26.41.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.18. GAP had a return on equity of 29.03% and a net margin of 5.40%. The business had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.07 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Gap, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. GAP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GAP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus upgraded GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of GAP in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of GAP in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.25.

Institutional Trading of GAP

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in GAP stock. California State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 209,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,953,000. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.06% of GAP as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.81% of the company’s stock.

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.