North Growth Management Ltd. Purchases 26,000 Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Company (NYSE:ANF)

North Growth Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Company (NYSE:ANF) by 32.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 106,000 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 26,000 shares during the quarter. Abercrombie & Fitch accounts for approximately 1.7% of North Growth Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. North Growth Management Ltd.’s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $8,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANF. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 892,492 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the first quarter worth approximately $56,569,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter worth approximately $88,478,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $183,829,000 after purchasing an additional 212,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,371,000.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ANF opened at $77.97 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.50. Abercrombie & Fitch Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.40 and a fifty-two week high of $186.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.67 and a beta of 1.47.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last posted 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 company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 42.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Abercrombie & Fitch Company will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ANF. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.63.

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.