GAP (NYSE:GAP) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $14.00 to $16.00. The stock had previously closed at $22.04, but opened at $25.80. UBS Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. GAP shares last traded at $23.98, with a volume of 9,766,223 shares.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of GAP in a report on Friday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of GAP from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of GAP from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, GAP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Horacio Barbeito sold 75,385 shares of GAP stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $1,507,700.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

GAP Stock Up 12.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $9.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 2.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $21.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.15. GAP had a return on equity of 30.10% and a net margin of 5.40%. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. Analysts forecast that The Gap, Inc. will post 1.87 EPS for the current year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.78%.

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.