Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) Rating Lowered 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 issued on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on ANF. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $189.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.88.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ANF opened at $78.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $118.05 and a 200-day moving average of $135.30. Abercrombie & Fitch has a fifty-two week low of $75.62 and a fifty-two week high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last posted 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. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.97 earnings per share. Abercrombie & Fitch’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.30 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to buy up to 29.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Abercrombie & Fitch

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 92.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 81.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 274 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 604.4% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 317 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 56.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 367 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter.

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.