GAP (NYSE:GAP) Price Target Lowered to $27.00 at Morgan Stanley

GAP (NYSE:GAP) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $30.00 to $27.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

GAP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on GAP from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of GAP from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of GAP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.43.

GAP Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of GAP opened at $22.67 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. GAP has a 52-week low of $16.99 and a 52-week high of $26.41. The company has a market cap of $8.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $20.46 and a 200 day moving average of $22.32.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.07 billion. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th were given a $0.165 dividend. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 9th. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Horacio Barbeito sold 40,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.07, for a total transaction of $818,133.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,181.56. The trade was a 99.25 % 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, CEO Mark Breitbard sold 16,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.43, for a total value of $328,003.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 123,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,533,013.55. This trade represents a 11.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 177,495 shares of company stock valued at $3,598,459. Insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GAP

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GAP in the first quarter worth $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in GAP during the 1st quarter worth about $75,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new position in shares of GAP during the 1st quarter valued at about $81,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of GAP in the 1st quarter valued at about $91,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GAP in the first quarter worth about $96,000. 58.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.