Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Buys 37,752 Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 520,702 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,752 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 1.03% of Abercrombie & Fitch worth $77,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.9% in 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. lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 150.7% in 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 20.8% in 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 period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,037,773 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $155,116,000 after purchasing an additional 115,758 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 23.2% in the 4th 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 during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANF has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James set a $110.00 price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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 report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Monday, April 21st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $71.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abercrombie & Fitch currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $127.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

Abercrombie & Fitch stock opened at $70.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 1.41. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 1-year low of $65.40 and a 1-year high of $196.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $80.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $118.86.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.97 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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