Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $182.25.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James reduced their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $173.00 to $220.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Abercrombie & Fitch from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Samir Desai sold 5,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total transaction of $880,070.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,275,982.09. This represents a 21.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Suzanne M. Coulter sold 2,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $459,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,024,800. The trade was a 30.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,401 shares of company stock worth $2,631,741 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abercrombie & Fitch

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch during the third quarter worth about $73,048,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 283.0% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 303,896 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $54,045,000 after buying an additional 224,555 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 293.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 286,434 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $51,043,000 after acquiring an additional 213,684 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 25.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,017,720 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $142,379,000 after buying an additional 204,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 16.0% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 873,148 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $155,281,000 after buying an additional 120,509 shares in the last quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE ANF opened at $130.34 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $147.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.28. The stock has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 1.52. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 52 week low of $95.51 and a 52 week high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.18. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abercrombie & Fitch Company Profile

Abercrombie & Fitch Co, through its subsidiaries, operates as an omnichannel retailer in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and internationally. The company offers an assortment of apparel, personal care products, and accessories for men, women, and kids under the Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie kids, Hollister, and Gilly Hicks brands.