Leuthold Group LLC Invests $4.07 Million in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Leuthold Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 27,231 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,070,000. Leuthold Group LLC owned about 0.05% of Abercrombie & Fitch as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 5.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 30,284 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,237,000 after buying an additional 1,693 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 85.6% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 19,559 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,736,000 after acquiring an additional 9,022 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 2,944.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 17,597 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,462,000 after acquiring an additional 17,019 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,963 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the period. Finally, Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC purchased a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,386,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $173.00 to $220.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, EVP Samir Desai sold 5,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $880,070.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,275,982.09. This represents a 21.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Suzanne M. Coulter sold 2,870 shares of Abercrombie & Fitch stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $459,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,405 shares in the company, valued at $1,024,800. This represents a 30.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,401 shares of company stock valued at $2,631,741 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of ANF opened at $100.32 on Friday. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 12 month low of $99.51 and a 12 month high of $196.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $132.14 and its 200-day moving average is $140.83. The firm has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 1.49.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.18. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abercrombie & Fitch Profile

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.