GAP (NYSE:GAP) Cut to “Equal Weight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of GAP (NYSE:GAP) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $24.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $30.00.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on GAP. 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 research note on Friday, March 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of GAP from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup cut their target price on GAP from $32.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on GAP from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on GAP from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.64.

GAP Stock Performance

Shares of GAP opened at $23.00 on Wednesday. GAP has a 52 week low of $16.99 and a 52 week high of $26.41. 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 cap of $8.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.15. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.32.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 9th. GAP’s dividend payout ratio is 29.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GAP

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of GAP in the first quarter worth about $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of GAP during the first quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new position in shares of GAP in the first quarter worth $81,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of GAP during the first quarter worth $91,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in GAP during the first quarter valued at $96,000. 58.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.