Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in The Gap, Inc. $GAP

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 103,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,363,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GAP. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its stake in GAP by 79.1% in the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 21,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $495,000 after buying an additional 9,368 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd acquired a new stake in GAP in the third quarter worth about $214,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in GAP by 116.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 8,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in shares of GAP during the third quarter worth about $7,192,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of GAP by 26.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 172,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,219,000 after acquiring an additional 35,747 shares during the last quarter. 58.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other GAP news, insider Julie Gruber sold 27,538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.56, for a total value of $648,795.28. Following the sale, the insider owned 30,876 shares in the company, valued at approximately $727,438.56. This represents a 47.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director William Fisher sold 500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.89, for a total transaction of $11,945,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,903,198 shares in the company, valued at $379,927,400.22. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 1,027,538 shares of company stock valued at $24,249,556 over the last three months. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GAP shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of GAP from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of GAP from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of GAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of GAP from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of GAP in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.07.

GAP Stock Performance

GAP traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.80. 1,478,890 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,660,023. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 2.05. The Gap, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.11 and a 1-year high of $29.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 27th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. GAP had a return on equity of 19.72% and a net margin of 8.14%. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. GAP has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.450 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Gap, Inc. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be given a dividend of $0.1750 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 7th. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.90%.

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. The Old Navy Global segment offers clothing and accessories for adults and children.