Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Friday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on ANF. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $173.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of ANF stock opened at $100.32 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $132.14 and its 200 day moving average is $140.83. The firm has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 1.49. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 52-week low of $99.51 and a 52-week high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Abercrombie & Fitch

In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, COO Scott D. Lipesky sold 8,605 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.20, for a total value of $1,292,471.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 97,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,697,070. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Suzanne M. Coulter sold 2,870 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $459,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,024,800. The trade was a 30.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,401 shares of company stock valued at $2,631,741. 2.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Abercrombie & Fitch

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ANF. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.9% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 30,284 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,693 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 85.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 19,559 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,736,000 after acquiring an additional 9,022 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 2,944.5% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 17,597 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,462,000 after acquiring an additional 17,019 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 10.4% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,963 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $694,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the period. Finally, Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the third quarter valued at $3,386,000.

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.