Bank of New York Mellon Corp Invests $56.76 Million in The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,754,136 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,763,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.73% of GAP at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund purchased a new position in GAP in the first quarter valued at about $932,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in GAP in the first quarter valued at about $75,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new position in GAP in the first quarter valued at about $81,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in GAP during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,065,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in GAP during the first quarter valued at approximately $91,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GAP has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on GAP from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays increased their price target on GAP from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut GAP from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on GAP from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on GAP from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $28.47.

GAP Price Performance

Shares of GAP stock traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.22. 12,053,746 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,875,264. The Gap, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.99 and a twelve month high of $29.29. The firm has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 2.14. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $23.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.71.

GAP (NYSE:GAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.07. GAP had a return on equity of 27.86% and a net margin of 5.80%. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.41 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Gap, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 9th. GAP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Breitbard sold 51,385 shares of GAP stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $1,387,395.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 123,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,347,595. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 31.00% of the company's stock.

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.