Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for GAP (NYSE:GAP) Stock Price

GAP (NYSE:GAP) had its price target reduced by Morgan Stanley from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on GAP. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of GAP from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of GAP from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of GAP in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on GAP from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.43.

GAP Price Performance

NYSE:GAP opened at $22.67 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. GAP has a 52 week low of $16.99 and a 52 week high of $26.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $20.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.24.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.07 billion. GAP had a return on equity of 29.03% and a net margin of 5.40%. As a group, equities analysts expect that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 9th. This is a boost from GAP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Horacio Barbeito sold 40,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.07, for a total value of $818,133.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,181.56. This represents a 99.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Elisabeth B. Donohue sold 3,539 shares of GAP stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.04, for a total transaction of $74,460.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,160. This trade represents a 46.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 177,495 shares of company stock valued at $3,598,459 over the last quarter. 31.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GAP

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of GAP in the first quarter valued at approximately $56,763,000. Rhumbline Advisers acquired a new stake in GAP during the 1st quarter worth approximately $12,210,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in GAP in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $7,422,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of GAP in the first quarter worth $5,065,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of GAP during the fourth quarter worth $4,953,000. 58.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.