Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Short Interest Up 10.0% in April

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,830,000 shares, an increase of 10.0% from the March 31st total of 4,390,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,630,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days. Currently, 9.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity at Abercrombie & Fitch

In related news, CFO Scott D. Lipesky sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.95, for a total value of $4,478,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,330,996.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, CFO Scott D. Lipesky sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.95, for a total transaction of $4,478,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,330,996.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Fran Horowitz sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.61, for a total value of $44,244,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 525,520 shares in the company, valued at $58,127,767.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 558,786 shares of company stock valued at $64,340,812 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANF. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 12,439.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,313,894 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $299,544,000 after buying an additional 5,271,516 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 101.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,352,169 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $119,288,000 after buying an additional 681,375 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 3,067.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 444,547 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $25,059,000 after buying an additional 430,513 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,632,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 171.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 664,074 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $37,434,000 after buying an additional 419,781 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $81.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com raised Abercrombie & Fitch from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Argus increased their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $97.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 target price (up from $140.00) on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. 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, Abercrombie & Fitch has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.71.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Down 0.9 %

ANF stock opened at $120.41 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $123.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 52-week low of $21.74 and a 52-week high of $140.28. The firm has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.36 and a beta of 1.58.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 6th. The apparel retailer reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 7.67% and a return on equity of 38.80%. Abercrombie & Fitch’s quarterly revenue was up 21.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Abercrombie & Fitch

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.