US Bancorp DE Purchases 336 Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 22.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,812 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,221,890 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $171,815,000 after buying an additional 63,157 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,017,720 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $142,379,000 after buying an additional 204,901 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 870,143 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $121,733,000 after purchasing an additional 60,022 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 701,798 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $104,898,000 after purchasing an additional 131,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 533,853 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $79,795,000 after purchasing an additional 4,019 shares during the last quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

Shares of ANF opened at $79.71 on Friday. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 12 month low of $74.31 and a 12 month high of $196.99. The stock has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a PE ratio of 7.88 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $113.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.89.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ANF shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $189.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. Finally, Raymond James set a $110.00 price target on Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.88.

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.