Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Makes New Investment in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 522,147 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $73,048,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned 1.02% of Abercrombie & Fitch as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 56.8% in the third quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,604 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 40,438 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $5,657,000 after purchasing an additional 4,029 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 91.4% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 4,068 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 34.7% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 72,874 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $10,195,000 after buying an additional 18,767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 7.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 870,143 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $121,733,000 after buying an additional 60,022 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ANF. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $155.00 to $147.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $194.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Up 7.4 %

Shares of ANF opened at $151.99 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $142.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.13. The firm has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 1.50. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 12-month low of $72.13 and a 12-month high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.36. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 47.35%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Abercrombie & Fitch

In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, CFO Scott D. Lipesky sold 9,000 shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total value of $1,321,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 106,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,627,594. This trade represents a 7.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Helen Mccluskey sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.38, for a total value of $487,830.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 37,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,222,568.60. This trade represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,541 shares of company stock worth $4,310,256 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

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.