Jefferies Financial Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) Stock Price

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) had its target price dropped by Jefferies Financial Group from $220.00 to $170.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the apparel retailer’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 103.19% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on ANF. Raymond James dropped their price target 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. UBS Group raised Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $173.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on 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. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.75.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock opened at $83.67 on Wednesday. Abercrombie & Fitch has a fifty-two week low of $79.77 and a fifty-two week high of $196.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.94.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.09. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.97 earnings per share. Abercrombie & Fitch’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to buyback $1.30 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the apparel retailer to reacquire up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Abercrombie & Fitch

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,755,692 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $860,303,000 after acquiring an additional 53,999 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 150.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,484,643 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $221,910,000 after acquiring an additional 892,492 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,229,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $183,829,000 after acquiring an additional 212,155 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,221,890 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $171,815,000 after acquiring an additional 63,157 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,037,773 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $155,116,000 after acquiring an additional 115,758 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.