American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 680,930 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,493 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $101,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Global Investments purchased a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch in the 4th quarter valued at about $534,000. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $362,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 127,760.0% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 6,393 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $954,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 7,283 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on ANF shares. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price target 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. Citigroup decreased their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $189.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.88.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ANF stock opened at $79.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.83 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $105.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.01. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 12 month low of $74.31 and a 12 month high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

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