Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Short Interest Update

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

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Up 2.7 %

ANF stock opened at $125.41 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16 and a beta of 1.58. Abercrombie & Fitch has a 52 week low of $21.74 and a 52 week high of $140.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $123.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 6th. The apparel retailer reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 7.67% and a return on equity of 38.80%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, CEO Fran Horowitz sold 400,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.61, for a total transaction of $44,244,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 525,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,127,767.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, CEO Fran Horowitz sold 400,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.61, for a total transaction of $44,244,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 525,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,127,767.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jay Rust sold 786 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.41, for a total transaction of $98,572.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,014 shares in the company, valued at $127,165.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 558,786 shares of company stock valued at $64,340,812. Insiders own 3.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abercrombie & Fitch

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANF. FMR LLC raised its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 12,439.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,313,894 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $299,544,000 after acquiring an additional 5,271,516 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 101.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,352,169 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $119,288,000 after acquiring an additional 681,375 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 3,067.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 444,547 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $25,059,000 after acquiring an additional 430,513 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter worth about $37,632,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 171.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 664,074 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $37,434,000 after acquiring an additional 419,781 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $100.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $81.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $97.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.71.

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.