Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

A number of other research firms have also commented on ANF. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Raymond James dropped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on 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 raised Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $173.00 to $220.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ANF opened at $100.32 on Friday. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 1 year low of $99.51 and a 1 year high of $196.99. The company has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $132.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.83.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.18. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 46.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $459,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,024,800. This trade represents a 30.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Samir Desai sold 5,926 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,275,982.09. The trade was a 21.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,401 shares of company stock valued at $2,631,741 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the fourth quarter valued at about $399,000. Invst LLC boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Invst LLC now owns 4,017 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch in the 4th quarter worth approximately $247,000. GTS Securities LLC grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 102.1% in the fourth quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 1,711 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 82,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000.

Abercrombie & Fitch Company Profile

Abercrombie & Fitch Co engages in the retail of apparel, personal care products, and accessories. The firm operates through following geographical segments: Americas, EMEA and APAC. The Americas segment includes operations in North America and South America. The EMEA segment includes operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.