Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Receives $171.50 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $140.88.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Raymond James set a $110.00 target price on Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group cut their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch in the fourth quarter valued at about $10,212,000. Virtue Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 8,221 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,229,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank acquired a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $399,000. Invst LLC grew its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Invst LLC now owns 4,017 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $247,000.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Down 9.1 %

Shares of ANF stock opened at $78.16 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $119.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.94. The firm has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.73 and a beta of 1.45. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 12 month low of $77.19 and a 12 month high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.