Abercrombie & Fitch Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ANF)

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 86,430 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 643% compared to the typical daily volume of 11,634 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,755,692 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $860,303,000 after acquiring an additional 53,999 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 198.2% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,955,927 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $144,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,070 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 150.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,484,643 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $221,910,000 after purchasing an additional 892,492 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,229,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $183,829,000 after purchasing an additional 212,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,037,773 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $155,116,000 after buying an additional 115,758 shares during the period.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

NYSE ANF traded up $13.09 on Wednesday, hitting $90.24. 15,428,085 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,119,649. Abercrombie & Fitch has a twelve month low of $65.40 and a twelve month high of $196.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.93 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $74.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.63.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The apparel retailer reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 46.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Abercrombie & Fitch declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 buy up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $114.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 9th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Wednesday. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.63.

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.