Legato Capital Management LLC Buys New Position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,080 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $610,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANF. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 87.2% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,818 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,318,000 after purchasing an additional 4,108 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 24,669 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,687,000 after buying an additional 2,479 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 228.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 27,621 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,864,000 after buying an additional 19,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the 4th quarter worth $12,406,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ANF shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group raised Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $173.00 to $220.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.25.

Insider Activity at Abercrombie & Fitch

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Coulter sold 2,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $459,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,024,800. The trade was a 30.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Scott D. Lipesky sold 8,605 shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 97,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,697,070. The trade was a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,401 shares of company stock valued at $2,631,741 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE ANF opened at $111.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 1.49. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 52 week low of $106.10 and a 52 week high of $196.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $135.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.03.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.18. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.64 earnings per share for the current year.

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.