The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) Raises Dividend to $0.17 Per Share

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.165 per share on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This is a boost from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

GAP has a dividend payout ratio of 25.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect GAP to earn $2.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.0%.

GAP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GAP opened at $23.28 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $23.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.54. GAP has a one year low of $18.72 and a one year high of $30.75. The company has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on GAP shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of GAP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Argus raised shares of GAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group raised shares of GAP from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $26.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other GAP news, Director William Sydney Fisher sold 243,868 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.02, for a total value of $6,345,445.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,820,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,408,551.34. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 87,557 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.45, for a total transaction of $2,228,325.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 955,375 shares of company stock valued at $24,316,219 over the last three months. 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.