Julie Gruber Sells 1,537 Shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Stock

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) insider Julie Gruber sold 1,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total transaction of $30,109.83. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $732,568.05. This represents a 3.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

GAP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GAP traded down $0.76 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $19.35. The stock had a trading volume of 8,934,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,109,398. The Gap, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.54 and a 52 week high of $26.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.53.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.18. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.07 billion. As a group, 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 given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. GAP’s payout ratio is 29.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GAP

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in GAP stock. California State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 209,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,953,000. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.06% of GAP at the end of the most recent quarter. 58.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GAP shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of GAP from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group cut their price objective 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. 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 research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.25.

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.