GAP (NYSE:GAP) Sets New 12-Month High - Time to Buy?

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $21.97 and last traded at $21.94, with a volume of 8027570 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $21.76.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on GAP. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 note on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of GAP from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Argus raised shares of GAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of GAP from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of GAP in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.64.

GAP Trading Up 0.8 %

The firm's 50 day moving average price is $20.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.31. The stock has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

GAP (NYSE:GAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.18. The firm 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Gap, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. This is a boost from GAP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 9th. GAP's payout ratio is presently 29.86%.

Insider Activity

In other GAP news, insider Julie Gruber sold 1,537 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total transaction of $30,109.83. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Sarah Gilligan sold 29,813 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total transaction of $606,396.42. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,634 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,575.56. This represents a 91.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 177,495 shares of company stock valued at $3,598,459 over the last three months. Insiders own 31.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of GAP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in GAP during the first quarter valued at approximately $832,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board purchased a new stake in shares of GAP in the first quarter worth $892,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GAP in the first quarter worth $30,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of GAP in the first quarter worth $56,763,000. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in shares of GAP in the first quarter worth $932,000. 58.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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