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

GAP (NYSE:GAP) had its price objective hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

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

GAP Stock Up 12.9 %

GAP stock opened at $24.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. GAP has a twelve month low of $18.34 and a twelve month high of $30.75. The stock has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 2.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $21.39.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.15. GAP had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that GAP will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GAP Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Horacio Barbeito sold 75,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $1,507,700.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

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.