Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Raises Holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF - Free Report) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 520,702 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 37,752 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 1.03% of Abercrombie & Fitch worth $77,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ANF. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 53,999 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 150.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,484,643 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $221,910,000 after purchasing an additional 892,492 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 20.8% during the fourth 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. Marshall Wace LLP grew 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 acquiring an additional 115,758 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 701,798 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $104,898,000 after purchasing an additional 131,970 shares in the last quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Up 2.6 %

ANF stock traded up $1.77 during trading on Friday, reaching $70.79. 1,258,268 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,997,854. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.58. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 1 year low of $65.40 and a 1 year high of $196.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.00 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Abercrombie & Fitch declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that permits the company to buyback $1.30 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the apparel retailer to purchase up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ANF shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $135.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of 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 equities research 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $127.25.

About Abercrombie & Fitch

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.