Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for GAP (NYSE:GAP) Stock Price

GAP (NYSE:GAP) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at Barclays from $33.00 to $26.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 4.69% from the company’s previous close.

GAP has been the topic of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on GAP from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on GAP from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup reduced their target price on GAP from $32.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of GAP in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of GAP from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, GAP presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.93.

GAP Stock Up 9.6%

Shares of NYSE:GAP traded up $2.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $24.84. 11,897,606 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,960,765. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.35. The firm has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.54. GAP has a 52-week low of $16.99 and a 52-week high of $26.41.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 29.03%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that GAP will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at GAP

In other GAP news, CFO Katrina O’connell sold 80,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.35, for a total value of $1,628,590.15. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $168,701.50. This trade represents a 90.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Julie Gruber sold 1,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total transaction of $30,109.83. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $732,568.05. This trade represents a 3.95% 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 30.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of GAP

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in GAP during the 1st quarter valued at about $56,763,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of GAP during the first quarter worth approximately $32,655,000. Rhumbline Advisers acquired a new position in shares of GAP during the first quarter worth approximately $12,210,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of GAP during the first quarter worth approximately $7,422,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in GAP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,065,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.81% 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.