The Gap, Inc. (GAP) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 9th

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Investors 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This is a positive change from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

GAP has a 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GAP opened at $23.28 on Thursday. GAP has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $30.75. The company has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a PE ratio of 10.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.54. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.54.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on GAP shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of GAP from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $16.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of GAP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of GAP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of GAP from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of GAP from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.27.

Insider Activity at GAP

In related news, Director William Sydney Fisher sold 243,868 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 3,820,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,408,551.34. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder John J. Fisher sold 250,000 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.18, for a total transaction of $6,045,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,000,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,198,183.36. This represents a 19.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 955,375 shares of company stock worth $24,316,219. Corporate insiders own 31.00% 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.