Brokerages Set Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) PT at $183.50

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $182.25.

ANF has been the topic of several research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $173.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th.

Insider Transactions at Abercrombie & Fitch

In related news, COO Scott D. Lipesky sold 8,605 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.20, for a total transaction of $1,292,471.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 97,850 shares in the company, valued at $14,697,070. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Coulter sold 2,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $459,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,024,800. This represents a 30.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,401 shares of company stock valued at $2,631,741. Corporate insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANF. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the second quarter valued at $428,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 92.5% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,571 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $5,259,000 after acquiring an additional 14,206 shares during the period. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the 2nd quarter valued at $336,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the second quarter valued at about $786,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 66.1% in the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 741 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock opened at $130.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $147.19 and a 200 day moving average of $148.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 1.52. Abercrombie & Fitch has a fifty-two week low of $95.51 and a fifty-two week high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.18. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.63 EPS for the current year.

Abercrombie & Fitch Company Profile

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.