The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS) to Issue $0.15 Quarterly Dividend

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the apparel retailer on Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th.

GAP has raised its dividend payment by an average of 35.3% annually over the last three years. GAP has a payout ratio of 38.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect GAP to earn $1.50 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 40.0%.

GAP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPS opened at $22.41 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $22.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.19. The company has a market cap of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 2.34. GAP has a 12 month low of $7.22 and a 12 month high of $28.59.

GAP (NYSE:GPS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The apparel retailer reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.29. GAP had a return on equity of 22.56% and a net margin of 3.37%. The business had revenue of $4.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.75) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that GAP will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at GAP

In related news, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 9,818 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.94, for a total transaction of $274,314.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 9,818 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.94, for a total value of $274,314.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sarah Gilligan sold 29,425 shares of GAP stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.58, for a total value of $664,416.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,697 shares in the company, valued at $38,318.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 266,723 shares of company stock worth $6,886,765 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 31.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GPS shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of GAP from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. KGI Securities upped their price target on GAP from $9.10 to $25.20 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on GAP from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price target on GAP from $17.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of GAP from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.39.

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.