GAP (NYSE:GAP) Sets New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $17.01 and last traded at $17.32, with a volume of 2716006 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $17.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of GAP in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group cut their target price on GAP from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of GAP from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Argus raised GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, GAP has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.25.

GAP Stock Up 6.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.14.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) 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. GAP had a return on equity of 29.03% and a net margin of 5.40%. The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.07 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that The Gap, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. This is a boost from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. GAP’s payout ratio is presently 29.86%.

Insider Transactions at GAP

In other news, insider Julie Gruber sold 1,537 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total value of $30,109.83. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,395 shares in the company, valued at $732,568.05. This represents a 3.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Horacio Barbeito sold 40,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.07, for a total transaction of $818,133.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 308 shares in the company, valued at $6,181.56. This represents a 99.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 177,495 shares of company stock worth $3,598,459. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of GAP

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in GAP stock. California State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 209,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,953,000. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.06% of GAP at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.81% of the company’s stock.

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.