Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Shares Sold by Governors Lane LP

Governors Lane LP cut its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 48.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 40,300 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 38,300 shares during the period. Governors Lane LP’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $6,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 150.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,484,643 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $221,910,000 after purchasing an additional 892,492 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch in the 4th quarter worth $88,478,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in 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 valued at $183,829,000 after buying an additional 212,155 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,371,000. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter worth about $28,327,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com cut Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $135.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Monday, April 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $71.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group cut their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.63.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

Abercrombie & Fitch stock opened at $73.20 on Friday. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 1 year low of $65.40 and a 1 year high of $196.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.16 and its 200-day moving average is $113.93. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.47.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. Abercrombie & Fitch’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.30 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to repurchase up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Abercrombie & Fitch 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.