Wellington Management Group LLP Buys 212,155 Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 20.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,229,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 212,155 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $183,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter worth $212,000. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 87.2% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,818 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,318,000 after acquiring an additional 4,108 shares in the last quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 24,669 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,687,000 after acquiring an additional 2,479 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 158,554 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $23,699,000 after acquiring an additional 4,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the 4th quarter valued at about $12,406,000.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Up 5.6 %

ANF stock opened at $83.19 on Thursday. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a twelve month low of $73.39 and a twelve month high of $196.99. The company has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $97.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.28.

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

Abercrombie & Fitch declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to buyback $1.30 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the apparel retailer to reacquire up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Raymond James set a $110.00 price target on Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.88.

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.