The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts have given The Gap, Inc. a consensus rating of "Hold", with one sell, ten hold, and six buy recommendations; the average 12-month price target is $25.47.
• Insider trading activity has seen significant sales, including Director Robert J. Fisher's sale of 500,000 shares for approximately $11.45 million, reflecting a 15% decrease in his position.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share, yielding 3.4%, to be paid on October 29th.

Shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.4667.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GAP. Barclays lowered GAP from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $24.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of GAP in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reduced their target price on GAP from $27.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $22.00 target price on GAP in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reduced their target price on GAP from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd.

Insider Activity at GAP

In other GAP news, Director Robert J. Fisher sold 500,000 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.90, for a total value of $11,450,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,829,502 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,795,595.80. The trade was a 15.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William Sydney Fisher sold 243,064 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.82, for a total value of $5,789,784.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,453,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,261,250.46. This represents a 6.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 943,064 shares of company stock worth $22,011,784. Company insiders own 30.56% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dodge & Cox acquired a new stake in GAP during the first quarter worth $592,222,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of GAP during the 1st quarter worth about $63,674,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of GAP during the 1st quarter valued at about $56,763,000. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in GAP by 101.0% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,184,477 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,453,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600,041 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new position in GAP in the first quarter worth about $7,207,000. 58.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

GAP Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of GAP stock opened at $19.70 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 0.96. GAP has a 52-week low of $16.99 and a 52-week high of $29.29. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.89.

GAP (NYSE:GAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. GAP had a return on equity of 27.04% and a net margin of 5.86%.The firm's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. GAP has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that GAP will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 8th will be given a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 8th. GAP's payout ratio is currently 28.21%.

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.

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