Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,482 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $819,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ANF. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 81.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 274 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 156.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 279 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 604.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 317 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 8,914.3% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 631 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 39.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 788 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ANF. UBS Group raised Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $173.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of 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. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $459,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,024,800. The trade was a 30.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Samir Desai sold 5,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $880,070.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,275,982.09. This trade represents a 21.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,401 shares of company stock valued at $2,631,741. 2.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Up 1.7 %

Abercrombie & Fitch stock opened at $130.34 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $147.19 and its 200 day moving average is $148.28. The company has a market capitalization of $6.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 1.52. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a twelve month low of $95.51 and a twelve month high of $196.99.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.18. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 46.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.63 EPS for the current year.

About Abercrombie & Fitch

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.