Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Short Interest Update

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,900,000 shares, a growth of 21.3% from the March 15th total of 4,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,630,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 10.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James set a $110.00 price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Monday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $71.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock remained flat at $72.98 during midday trading on Monday. 1,844,859 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,977,179. Abercrombie & Fitch has a fifty-two week low of $65.40 and a fifty-two week high of $196.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.31 and a 200 day moving average of $121.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.22 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.30 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to purchase up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abercrombie & Fitch

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $548,000. Invst LLC lifted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 22.6% during the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 3,472 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $486,000 after acquiring an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC lifted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 22.8% in the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 1,708 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 8,757 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,835 shares during the period.

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.