Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for GAP (NYSE:GAP) Stock Price

GAP (NYSE:GAP) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on GAP. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on GAP from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on GAP from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of GAP in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Argus raised GAP to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GAP presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.30.

GAP Price Performance

NYSE GAP opened at $24.88 on Friday. GAP has a fifty-two week low of $18.34 and a fifty-two week high of $30.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $9.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.52, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 2.35.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 30.10%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that GAP will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

GAP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. GAP’s payout ratio is presently 27.78%.

Insider Activity at GAP

In other GAP news, CEO Horacio Barbeito sold 75,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $1,507,700.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

GAP Company Profile

The Gap, Inc operates as an apparel retail company. The company offers apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children under the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands. Its products include adult apparel and accessories; and fitness and lifestyle products for use in yoga, training, sports, travel, and everyday activities for women and girls.