Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $182.25.

Several brokerages recently commented on ANF. UBS Group raised shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $173.00 to $220.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

Abercrombie & Fitch stock opened at $110.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.56 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.49. The company’s 50-day moving average is $136.25 and its 200-day moving average is $142.30. Abercrombie & Fitch has a fifty-two week low of $106.10 and a fifty-two week high of $196.99.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Abercrombie & Fitch

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Coulter sold 2,870 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,024,800. The trade was a 30.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Scott D. Lipesky sold 8,605 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.20, for a total transaction of $1,292,471.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 97,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,697,070. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,401 shares of company stock valued at $2,631,741 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abercrombie & Fitch

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,755,692 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $860,303,000 after buying an additional 53,999 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 150.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,484,643 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $221,910,000 after buying an additional 892,492 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,229,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $183,829,000 after buying an additional 212,155 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,221,890 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $171,815,000 after buying an additional 63,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,037,773 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $155,116,000 after buying an additional 115,758 shares in the last quarter.

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.