Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

ANF has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $189.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.88.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of ANF opened at $78.65 on Friday. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 1 year low of $75.62 and a 1 year high of $196.99. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.45.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. Abercrombie & Fitch’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to buyback $1.30 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the apparel retailer to buy up to 29.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Abercrombie & Fitch

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch during the 4th quarter worth $212,000. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,818 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,318,000 after buying an additional 4,108 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC raised its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 24,669 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,687,000 after buying an additional 2,479 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 228.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 27,621 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,864,000 after buying an additional 19,222 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 158,554 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $23,699,000 after buying an additional 4,837 shares during the period.

About Abercrombie & Fitch

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.