GAP (NYSE:GPS) Upgraded to Buy by Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of GAP (NYSE:GPS) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $28.00 price objective on the apparel retailer’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $21.00.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. KGI Securities raised their target price on GAP from $9.10 to $25.20 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on GAP to $23.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com raised GAP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of GAP from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Cowen upped their price target on shares of GAP from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $20.39.

GAP Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of GPS stock opened at $22.12 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. GAP has a fifty-two week low of $7.22 and a fifty-two week high of $28.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $22.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.17. The stock has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 2.34.

GAP (NYSE:GPS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The apparel retailer reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.29. GAP had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 22.56%. The business had revenue of $4.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.75) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that GAP will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.78%.

Insider Activity at GAP

In related news, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 2,724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.70, for a total value of $64,558.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other GAP news, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 2,724 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.70, for a total transaction of $64,558.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Breitbard sold 27,222 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.18, for a total value of $767,115.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,985 shares in the company, valued at $3,493,897.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 266,723 shares of company stock worth $6,886,765 in the last ninety days. 31.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of GAP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of GAP by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 2,305,600 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $63,519,000 after purchasing an additional 285,000 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of GAP by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 367,130 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $7,677,000 after acquiring an additional 91,151 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of GAP by 2.9% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,906,701 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $30,898,000 after purchasing an additional 80,792 shares during the period. Polianta Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of GAP during the fourth quarter valued at $968,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of GAP by 266.4% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 48,820 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after purchasing an additional 35,495 shares during the period. 58.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

GAP Company Profile

The Gap, Inc operates as an apparel retail company. The company offers apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children under the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands. Its products include adult apparel and accessories; and fitness and lifestyle products for use in yoga, training, sports, travel, and everyday activities for women and girls.