Cibc World Markets Corp Acquires New Position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,706 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $703,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ANF. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 604.4% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 317 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the fourth quarter worth about $69,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ANF. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $189.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Raymond James set a $110.00 price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.88.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANF opened at $79.35 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $106.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $131.48. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a fifty-two week low of $74.31 and a fifty-two week high of $196.99. The company has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.85 and a beta of 1.45.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. Abercrombie & Fitch’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.97 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Abercrombie & Fitch declared that its board has approved a stock 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 generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.