Abercrombie & Fitch Company (NYSE:ANF) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Abercrombie & Fitch Company (NYSE:ANF - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two 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 brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $110.63.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ANF shares. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Barclays set a $84.00 price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $147.00 to $141.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 16th.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE ANF traded up $1.10 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $89.34. 1,470,159 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,213,869. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 12-month low of $65.40 and a 12-month high of $173.69. The stock has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.79 and a beta of 1.46. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $79.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.07.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The apparel retailer reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.24. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 42.32% and a net margin of 10.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.14 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,755,692 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $860,303,000 after purchasing an additional 53,999 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 198.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,955,927 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $144,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,070 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 150.7% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,229,875 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $183,829,000 after purchasing an additional 212,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,037,773 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $155,116,000 after buying an additional 115,758 shares during the period.

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.