Citigroup Lowers GAP (NYSE:GAP) Price Target to $22.00

GAP (NYSE:GAP) had its price target reduced by Citigroup from $32.00 to $22.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of GAP in a report on Friday, March 7th. Argus raised GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. 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 report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on GAP from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.69.

GAP Stock Performance

GAP opened at $18.99 on Tuesday. GAP has a 52-week low of $16.99 and a 52-week high of $26.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a PE ratio of 8.79, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.54. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.42.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $4.07 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that GAP will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. GAP’s payout ratio is 29.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other GAP news, Director Elisabeth B. Donohue sold 3,539 shares of GAP stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.04, for a total transaction of $74,460.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,160. The trade was a 46.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Breitbard sold 3,393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.58, for a total value of $66,434.94. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 133,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,610,816.78. This trade represents a 2.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 177,495 shares of company stock valued at $3,598,459 over the last ninety days. 31.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of GAP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of GAP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,971,000. California State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in shares of GAP during the 4th quarter worth $4,953,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers bought a new position in GAP during the first quarter worth about $12,210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.81% 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.