The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.17 Per Share

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of 0.165 per share on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

GAP has a payout ratio of 25.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect GAP to earn $2.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.0%.

GAP Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of GAP traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $22.48. 5,122,731 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,639,067. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.60. 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 company has a market capitalization of $8.48 billion, a PE ratio of 10.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.36. GAP has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $30.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 87,557 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.45, for a total transaction of $2,228,325.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder John J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.18, for a total value of $6,045,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,000,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,198,183.36. This trade represents a 19.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 955,375 shares of company stock valued at $24,316,219 over the last 90 days. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GAP. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of GAP from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of GAP from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.27.

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.