Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on ANF. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group raised Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $173.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of ANF opened at $102.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $127.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.43. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 52 week low of $99.12 and a 52 week high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Coulter sold 2,870 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 6,405 shares in the company, valued at $1,024,800. This represents a 30.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abercrombie & Fitch

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 9,445 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.4% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 1,564 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 415 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Virtue Capital Management LLC increased its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 8,221 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,229,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 92.2% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter.

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.