Plato Investment Management Ltd Lowers Holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Plato Investment Management Ltd trimmed its position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 75.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 560 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $27,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ANF. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,221,890 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $171,815,000 after purchasing an additional 63,157 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,017,720 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $142,379,000 after purchasing an additional 204,901 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 870,143 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $121,733,000 after purchasing an additional 60,022 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 23.2% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 533,853 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $79,795,000 after purchasing an additional 4,019 shares during the last quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

Shares of ANF stock opened at $87.43 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $123.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 8.65 and a beta of 1.45. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a fifty-two week low of $79.77 and a fifty-two week high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.30 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to buy up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $173.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $189.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Raymond James reduced their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.50.

Abercrombie & Fitch 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.