Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Acquires 66,400 Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF - Free Report) by 620.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 77,100 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 66,400 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.15% of Abercrombie & Fitch worth $11,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ANF. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 415 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 92.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 5,460 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,831 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $2,217,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc increased its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 1,679 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abercrombie & Fitch has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $127.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ANF traded down $1.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $71.62. 1,532,820 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,989,461. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 1-year low of $65.40 and a 1-year high of $196.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.08 and a beta of 1.41. The business's 50 day moving average is $81.32 and its 200-day moving average is $119.73.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.97 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Abercrombie & Fitch declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that permits the company to buyback $1.30 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the apparel retailer to reacquire up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board 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.