Handelsbanken Fonder AB Boosts Holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,700 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $2,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 92.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 81.5% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 274 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 604.4% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 317 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 56.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 367 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 16.9% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 997 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ANF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James dropped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of 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 Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $173.00 to $220.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Three research 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, Abercrombie & Fitch has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, COO Scott D. Lipesky sold 8,605 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.20, for a total transaction of $1,292,471.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 97,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,697,070. This trade represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Samir Desai sold 5,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total transaction of $880,070.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,059 shares in the company, valued at $3,275,982.09. The trade was a 21.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,401 shares of company stock worth $2,631,741. Insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE ANF opened at $101.01 on Wednesday. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 52 week low of $99.12 and a 52 week high of $196.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.32.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.18. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. 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.