Cerity Partners LLC Sells 991 Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Cerity Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) by 24.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,077 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 991 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANF. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 415 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,831 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,217,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 1,679 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 9,047 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ANF opened at $74.87 on Wednesday. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 12 month low of $65.40 and a 12 month high of $196.99. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $83.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.99. The company has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.41 and a beta of 1.41.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 46.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.30 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to buy up to 29.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $127.25.

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.