Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 471,188 Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lowered its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF - Free Report) by 26.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,304,053 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 471,188 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 2.59% of Abercrombie & Fitch worth $194,951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,755,692 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $860,303,000 after buying an additional 53,999 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 150.7% in the 4th 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 lifted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 20.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,037,773 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $155,116,000 after purchasing an additional 115,758 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 701,798 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $104,898,000 after buying an additional 131,970 shares during the period.

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANF opened at $74.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $83.60 and a 200 day moving average of $120.99. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 52-week low of $65.40 and a 52-week high of $196.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a PE ratio of 7.41 and a beta of 1.41.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Abercrombie & Fitch had a return on equity of 46.50% and a net margin of 11.16%. The company's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to repurchase $1.30 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the apparel retailer to reacquire up to 29.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ANF shares. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price objective 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 cut their price objective on shares of 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 target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $135.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $149.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.

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