Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 120.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,600 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.4% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 1,564 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew 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 purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 92.2% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,831 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,217,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 9,047 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Up 5.0 %

Shares of ANF stock opened at $79.71 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $113.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $133.66. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 12-month low of $74.31 and a 12-month high of $196.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.88 and a beta of 1.45.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.97 EPS. Abercrombie & Fitch’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reduced 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $189.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on 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. Citigroup reduced their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. Three 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.88.

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.