Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of GAP Call Options (NYSE:GAP)

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 31,459 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 50% compared to the average daily volume of 21,003 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Breitbard sold 51,385 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $1,387,395.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 123,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,347,595. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GAP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dodge & Cox bought a new position in GAP during the first quarter valued at $592,222,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in GAP during the first quarter valued at $63,674,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in GAP during the first quarter valued at $56,763,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in GAP during the first quarter valued at $32,655,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of GAP during the first quarter worth $12,210,000. 58.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on GAP from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group cut their price objective on GAP from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on GAP from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded GAP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.47.

GAP Stock Performance

Shares of GAP opened at $22.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $23.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 2.14. GAP has a 52 week low of $16.99 and a 52 week high of $29.29.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.07. GAP had a return on equity of 27.86% and a net margin of 5.80%. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. GAP’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that GAP will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GAP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 9th. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.57%.

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.