Axa S.A. Increases Holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Axa S.A. increased its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,350 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 7,146 shares during the period. Axa S.A. owned approximately 0.16% of Abercrombie & Fitch worth $11,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ANF shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com lowered Abercrombie & Fitch from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $135.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group decreased their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $127.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Down 1.8 %

ANF opened at $69.55 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $77.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 1.47. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 12-month low of $65.40 and a 12-month high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 46.50%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

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

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