Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

ANF has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $81.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an outperform rating and set a $152.00 price objective (up from $140.00) on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $97.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $98.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $122.71.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

NYSE:ANF opened at $111.83 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $122.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98 and a beta of 1.58. Abercrombie & Fitch has a twelve month low of $21.74 and a twelve month high of $140.28.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 6th. The apparel retailer reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.14. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 7.67% and a return on equity of 38.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. Abercrombie & Fitch’s revenue was up 21.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Abercrombie & Fitch

In related news, CFO Scott D. Lipesky sold 35,000 shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.95, for a total value of $4,478,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,558 shares in the company, valued at $11,330,996.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Scott D. Lipesky sold 35,000 shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.95, for a total value of $4,478,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,558 shares in the company, valued at $11,330,996.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kristin A. Scott sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.15, for a total transaction of $15,138,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,819,939.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 158,786 shares of company stock worth $20,096,812. Corporate insiders own 3.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abercrombie & Fitch

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Trexquant Investment LP increased its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 355.9% in the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 195,866 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $11,041,000 after acquiring an additional 152,907 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the 3rd quarter worth $777,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 153,229 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $8,638,000 after purchasing an additional 43,310 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the 3rd quarter worth $598,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the 3rd quarter worth $782,000.

About Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch Co, through its subsidiaries, operates as an omnichannel retailer in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and internationally. The company offers an assortment of apparel, personal care products, and accessories for men, women, and kids under the Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie kids, Hollister, and Gilly Hicks brands.