Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) Shares Down 3.8% – Time to Sell?

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) dropped 3.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $137.34 and last traded at $137.98. Approximately 146,475 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 1,664,098 shares. The stock had previously closed at $143.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $194.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup raised shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $6.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49 and a beta of 1.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $142.44 and its 200 day moving average is $152.88.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.36. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 47.35% and a net margin of 10.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.31 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Samir Desai sold 19,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.36, for a total transaction of $2,501,225.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,676,109.60. This trade represents a 40.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Scott D. Lipesky sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 106,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,627,594. This represents a 7.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abercrombie & Fitch

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,221,890 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $171,815,000 after acquiring an additional 63,157 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 25.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,017,720 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $142,379,000 after acquiring an additional 204,901 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 120,509 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 60,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 146.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 863,100 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $153,494,000 after acquiring an additional 512,700 shares in the last quarter.

About Abercrombie & Fitch

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.