GAP (NYSE:GAP) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $18.54 and last traded at $19.83, with a volume of 16128753 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $20.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on GAP shares. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of GAP in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded GAP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised GAP from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, GAP presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.27.

GAP Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.27. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.18, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.36.

GAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.56%.

Insider Activity at GAP

In other news, major shareholder John J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,000,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,198,183.36. This represents a 19.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William Sydney Fisher sold 243,868 shares of GAP stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.02, for a total value of $6,345,445.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,820,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,408,551.34. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 617,818 shares of company stock valued at $15,642,893 in the last three months. Company insiders own 31.00% 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.