The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.17

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be given a dividend of 0.165 per share on Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%.

GAP has a dividend payout ratio of 28.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect GAP to earn $2.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.66 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.8%.

GAP Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of GAP stock traded down $0.24 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $27.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,393,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,023,842. The stock has a market cap of $10.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.24. GAP has a 52 week low of $16.99 and a 52 week high of $28.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.07 billion. GAP had a return on equity of 29.03% and a net margin of 5.40%. Equities research analysts anticipate that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Julie Gruber sold 1,537 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total value of $30,109.83. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,395 shares in the company, valued at $732,568.05. This trade represents a 3.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Breitbard sold 16,055 shares of GAP stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.43, for a total transaction of $328,003.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,533,013.55. The trade was a 11.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 228,880 shares of company stock worth $4,985,854. Company insiders own 30.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in GAP stock. Amundi bought a new position in The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 12,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on GAP shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut GAP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $30.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of GAP from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of GAP from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.21.

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.