Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF)

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 23,803 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 96% compared to the average volume of 12,120 put options.

Institutional Trading of Abercrombie & Fitch

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,617 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch in the third quarter valued at approximately $548,000. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 214.8% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 12,971 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,815,000 after buying an additional 8,851 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 63,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,639 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of ANF opened at $69.48 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 6.87 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $86.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.88. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 12 month low of $65.40 and a 12 month high of $196.99.

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

Abercrombie & Fitch declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 5th that permits the company to repurchase $1.30 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the apparel retailer to buy up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on ANF shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $135.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $135.29.

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.