Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $171.50.

Several brokerages have commented on ANF. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $173.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abercrombie & Fitch

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 92.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 81.5% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 274 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 604.4% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 317 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 56.2% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 367 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

NYSE:ANF opened at $87.43 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $123.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.94. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 52-week low of $79.77 and a 52-week high of $196.99. The company has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65 and a beta of 1.49.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last issued 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 46.50%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abercrombie & Fitch declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.30 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to purchase up to 29.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.