GAP (NYSE:GAP) Stock Price Crosses Below 50 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) shares crossed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.32 and traded as low as $21.44. GAP shares last traded at $21.5360, with a volume of 6,059,729 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GAP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on GAP from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Barclays raised their price target on GAP from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of GAP from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of GAP from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of GAP from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, GAP currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.07.

GAP Stock Down 3.9%

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.12.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. GAP had a return on equity of 19.72% and a net margin of 8.14%. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. GAP has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.450 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The Gap, Inc. will post 2.40 EPS for the current year.

GAP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 7th were paid a $0.1750 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 7th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio is 20.90%.

Insider Activity

In other GAP news, Director William Fisher sold 500,000 shares of GAP stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.89, for a total value of $11,945,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,903,198 shares in the company, valued at $379,927,400.22. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Gruber sold 27,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.56, for a total transaction of $648,795.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $727,438.56. This represents a 47.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 1,027,538 shares of company stock worth $24,249,556 over the last 90 days. 31.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of GAP in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in GAP in the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of GAP during the 2nd quarter valued at $73,000. Westpac Banking Corp bought a new stake in shares of GAP during the 2nd quarter valued at $103,000. Finally, Balance Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GAP during the 3rd quarter worth $109,000. 58.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

GAP Company Profile