Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) Shares Bought by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF - Free Report) by 33.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,751 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after buying an additional 3,934 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch were worth $2,354,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANF. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 92.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 156.0% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 279 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 604.4% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 317 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 56.2% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 367 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abercrombie & Fitch news, COO Scott D. Lipesky sold 8,605 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.20, for a total transaction of $1,292,471.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 97,850 shares in the company, valued at $14,697,070. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Samir Desai sold 5,926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total transaction of $880,070.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,275,982.09. This represents a 21.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,401 shares of company stock valued at $2,631,741 over the last quarter. 2.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group upgraded 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $182.25.

Abercrombie & Fitch Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANF traded down $0.60 on Tuesday, hitting $114.95. 2,103,454 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,359,122. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 1.49. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 12 month low of $101.59 and a 12 month high of $196.99. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $141.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.26.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.19 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 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.64 EPS for the current fiscal 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.