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

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $140.88.

Several research firms have weighed in on ANF. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 150.7% in the fourth 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 during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the 4th quarter valued at $88,478,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,229,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $183,829,000 after purchasing an additional 212,155 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch during the 4th quarter worth $31,371,000. Finally, Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch in the 4th quarter valued at $28,327,000.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Down 1.1 %

ANF stock opened at $76.65 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $100.75 and a 200-day moving average of $129.47. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 12-month low of $74.31 and a 12-month high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 earnings per share. Abercrombie & Fitch’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.