Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Stock Holdings Cut by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 90,462 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 10,890 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $13,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 92.2% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 56.2% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 367 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 415 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter worth approximately $69,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ANF shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. Raymond James set a $110.00 price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.88.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

Shares of ANF opened at $73.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 1.41. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a twelve month low of $66.51 and a twelve month high of $196.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $95.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.40.

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

Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to buyback $1.30 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the apparel retailer to repurchase up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board 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.