Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) to Repurchase $1.30 billion in Outstanding Stock

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, March 5th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.30 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to purchase up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $189.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $173.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.50.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

Shares of ANF opened at $87.43 on Thursday. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 1 year low of $79.77 and a 1 year high of $196.99. The company has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $123.78 and a 200-day moving average of $137.94.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.50 by $0.07. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Abercrombie & Fitch Company Profile

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.