UBS Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for GAP (NYSE:GAP) Stock Price

GAP (NYSE:GAP) had its price objective reduced by UBS Group from $26.00 to $25.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on GAP. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.25.

GAP Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE GAP opened at $21.05 on Monday. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.03. GAP has a 52-week low of $18.54 and a 52-week high of $30.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.38.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, analysts anticipate that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This is an increase from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. GAP’s payout ratio is currently 29.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction 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. This represents a 19.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 31.00% of the stock is owned by company 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.