Aviva PLC Decreases Position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Aviva PLC lowered its position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,093 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 350 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 92.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 107 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 acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 415 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter valued at $69,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James set a $110.00 target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup cut their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $135.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Down 5.2 %

NYSE:ANF opened at $73.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $89.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.66. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a fifty-two week low of $65.40 and a fifty-two week high of $196.99.

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

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

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.