Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Stock Holdings Lifted by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 14.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 425,500 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 52,600 shares during the quarter. Abercrombie & Fitch makes up about 2.2% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $53,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 2.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,191,102 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $348,992,000 after purchasing an additional 146,384 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 101.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,352,169 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $119,288,000 after purchasing an additional 681,375 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 171.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 664,074 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $37,434,000 after purchasing an additional 419,781 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 54.5% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 491,085 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $27,682,000 after purchasing an additional 173,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,632,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on ANF shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $155.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $112.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.14.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock traded up $2.91 on Friday, reaching $175.44. The stock had a trading volume of 865,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,610,316. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $152.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.64. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.38 and a fifty-two week high of $196.99. The stock has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.75 and a beta of 1.48.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The apparel retailer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $967.37 million. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 9.53% and a return on equity of 44.83%. Abercrombie & Fitch’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 9.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Abercrombie & Fitch

In related news, CFO Scott D. Lipesky sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.48, for a total transaction of $1,588,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 115,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,375,498.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, CFO Scott D. Lipesky sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.48, for a total value of $1,588,320.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 115,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,375,498.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Fran Horowitz sold 400,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.61, for a total transaction of $44,244,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 525,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,127,767.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 422,120 shares of company stock worth $48,119,693 in the last ninety days. 3.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abercrombie & Fitch Company Profile

Abercrombie & Fitch Co, through its subsidiaries, operates as an omnichannel retailer in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and internationally. The company offers an assortment of apparel, personal care products, and accessories for men, women, and kids under the Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie kids, Hollister, and Gilly Hicks brands.