Raymond James Begins Coverage on Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF)

Investment analysts at Raymond James started coverage on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price target on the apparel retailer’s stock. Raymond James’ price target indicates a potential upside of 18.93% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup raised Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $147.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.38.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

NYSE ANF opened at $151.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.97 and a beta of 1.52. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 1 year low of $76.82 and a 1 year high of $196.99. The business’s fifty day moving average is $145.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.26.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Scott D. Lipesky sold 8,605 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 97,850 shares in the company, valued at $14,697,070. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Suzanne M. Coulter sold 2,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $459,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,024,800. This represents a 30.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,401 shares of company stock worth $2,631,741 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abercrombie & Fitch

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 6.5% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,070 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.8% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 9,445 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.4% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 1,564 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.5% in the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 1,695 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 3.6% in the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 3,277 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 115 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.