Highland Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Highland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,525 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 291 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANF. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 146.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 863,100 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $153,494,000 after acquiring an additional 512,700 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 2,036.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 419,560 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $74,615,000 after acquiring an additional 399,922 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 613.3% in the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 356,610 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $44,694,000 after acquiring an additional 306,616 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 283.0% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 303,896 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $54,045,000 after acquiring an additional 224,555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 293.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 286,434 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $51,043,000 after buying an additional 213,684 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on ANF. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $193.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Argus lowered shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $155.00 to $147.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.71.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ANF opened at $141.53 on Monday. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 12 month low of $57.78 and a 12 month high of $196.99. The company has a market cap of $7.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $146.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.39.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.36. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 47.35%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Samir Desai sold 19,041 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.36, for a total value of $2,501,225.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,676,109.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, Director Helen Mccluskey sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.38, for a total value of $487,830.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 37,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,222,568.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Samir Desai sold 19,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.36, for a total transaction of $2,501,225.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,676,109.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,541 shares of company stock valued at $4,310,256 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.77% of the company’s stock.

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.