Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on GAP (NYSE:GAP)

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 16,391 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 54% compared to the average daily volume of 10,622 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other GAP news, CEO Horacio Barbeito sold 75,385 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $1,507,700.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 31.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

GAP Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of GAP stock traded down $0.36 on Tuesday, reaching $21.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,598,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,929,614. The company has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. GAP has a 52 week low of $17.51 and a 52 week high of $30.75. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $21.24.

GAP (NYSE:GAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. GAP had a return on equity of 28.89% and a net margin of 5.05%. As a group, research analysts predict that GAP will post 1.88 EPS for the current year.

GAP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. GAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus upgraded GAP to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of GAP in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of GAP from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of GAP from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th.

About GAP

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.