AXQ Capital LP Purchases New Stake in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,524 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,221,890 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $171,815,000 after purchasing an additional 63,157 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 25.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,017,720 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $142,379,000 after buying an additional 204,901 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 870,143 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $121,733,000 after buying an additional 60,022 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 701,798 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $104,898,000 after acquiring an additional 131,970 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 680,930 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $101,779,000 after acquiring an additional 5,493 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $189.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Raymond James set a $110.00 price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.88.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

Abercrombie & Fitch stock opened at $79.13 on Tuesday. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a fifty-two week low of $74.31 and a fifty-two week high of $196.99. The stock has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.83 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $105.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $131.01.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.97 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Abercrombie & Fitch declared that its board has approved a share buyback program 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 programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.