Abercrombie & Fitch Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ANF)

Key Points

• Abercrombie & Fitch experienced a significant surge in options trading, with a 142% increase in put options, marking 21,880 contracts traded on Thursday.
• Insider transactions included Director James A. Goldman selling over 5,000 shares, reflecting a 40.14% decrease in his holdings, while EVP Jay Rust sold 1,500 shares, decreasing his position by 18.41%.
• Analysts have set various price targets for Abercrombie & Fitch, with BTIG Research starting coverage with a "buy" rating and a target price of $120.00, while the consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $111.11.

Abercrombie & Fitch Company (NYSE:ANF - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 21,880 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 142% compared to the average volume of 9,055 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, Director James A. Goldman sold 5,072 shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $487,824.96. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,565 shares in the company, valued at $727,601.70. The trade was a 40.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jay Rust sold 1,500 shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.15, for a total value of $139,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 6,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $619,261.20. This represents a 18.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,964 shares of company stock worth $759,233. Company insiders own 2.29% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abercrombie & Fitch

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 56.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,818 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 1,371 shares in the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the third quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 2,407.3% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,056 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $176,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fluent Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 39.6% during the third quarter. Fluent Financial LLC now owns 37,697 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $3,225,000 after acquiring an additional 10,694 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. BTIG Research started coverage on Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $105.00 price target on Abercrombie & Fitch and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $93.00 price target on Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abercrombie & Fitch has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $111.11.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock traded down $1.10 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $70.01. The company had a trading volume of 417,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,355,239. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a PE ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.84. Abercrombie & Fitch has a fifty-two week low of $65.40 and a fifty-two week high of $167.71.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The apparel retailer reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 40.02% and a net margin of 10.61%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. Abercrombie & Fitch has set its FY 2025 guidance at 10.000-10.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 2.050-2.250 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

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.

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