GAP (NYSE:GAP) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of GAP (NYSE:GAP) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on GAP. Wells Fargo & Company lowered GAP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $30.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (up previously from $26.00) on shares of GAP in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America lowered their target price on GAP from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered GAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on GAP from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.87.

GAP Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE GAP opened at $22.02 on Wednesday. GAP has a 1-year low of $16.99 and a 1-year high of $29.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $21.09 and a 200-day moving average of $21.72. The firm has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 9.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 2.15.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.02. GAP had a return on equity of 27.44% and a net margin of 5.86%.The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. GAP’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. GAP has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

GAP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 8th will be given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 8th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GAP. Dodge & Cox bought a new position in shares of GAP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $592,222,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of GAP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $63,674,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of GAP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,763,000. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of GAP by 101.0% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,184,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,453,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers bought a new position in shares of GAP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $12,210,000. Institutional investors own 58.81% of the company’s stock.

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.