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

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on ANF. UBS Group raised shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $173.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of 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, 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Down 2.7 %

Abercrombie & Fitch stock opened at $100.32 on Friday. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 52 week low of $99.51 and a 52 week high of $196.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a PE ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 1.49.

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

Insider Transactions at Abercrombie & Fitch

In other news, COO Scott D. Lipesky sold 8,605 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.20, for a total transaction of $1,292,471.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 97,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,697,070. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Suzanne M. Coulter sold 2,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $459,200.00. Following the sale, the director now 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,401 shares of company stock worth $2,631,741. 2.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abercrombie & Fitch

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch in the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 87.2% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,818 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,318,000 after acquiring an additional 4,108 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 24,669 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,687,000 after acquiring an additional 2,479 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 228.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 27,621 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,864,000 after acquiring an additional 19,222 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 158,554 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $23,699,000 after acquiring an additional 4,837 shares during the period.

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.