Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) Shares Gap Up Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF – Get Rating) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $23.01, but opened at $27.35. Abercrombie & Fitch shares last traded at $28.18, with a volume of 2,359,486 shares changing hands.

The apparel retailer reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.41. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 0.08% and a return on equity of 1.90%. The firm had revenue of $836.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $814.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.27) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on ANF. Argus downgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $35.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $24.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ANF. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 42.3% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 29,951 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $958,000 after acquiring an additional 8,902 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 9.1% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 48,703 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,558,000 after acquiring an additional 4,049 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 41.7% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 318,200 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $10,179,000 after acquiring an additional 93,600 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 23.5% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 252,944 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $8,092,000 after acquiring an additional 48,078 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Divisar Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 43.2% in the first quarter. Divisar Capital Management LLC now owns 868,421 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $27,781,000 after acquiring an additional 261,824 shares during the last quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 476.00 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $24.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Company Profile

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Abercrombie & Fitch Co engages in the retail of apparel, personal care products, and accessories. It offers apparel products, including knit tops, woven shirts, graphic t-shirts, fleece, sweaters, jeans, woven pants, shorts, outerwear, dresses, intimates and swimwear, and personal care products and accessories for men, women, and kids under the Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie kids, Hollister and Gilly Hicks brands.