Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Abercrombie & Fitch Put Options (NYSE:ANF)

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 23,803 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 96% compared to the typical daily volume of 12,120 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 150.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,484,643 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $221,910,000 after acquiring an additional 892,492 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $56,569,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter worth $88,478,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings 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 worth $183,829,000 after buying an additional 212,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Abercrombie & Fitch during the fourth quarter worth $31,371,000.

Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE ANF traded down $2.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $70.61. 903,578 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,963,570. 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 $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.62.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $3.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.09. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 46.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Abercrombie & Fitch will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to repurchase $1.30 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the apparel retailer to purchase up to 29.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ANF. Raymond James set a $110.00 price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of 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. UBS Group cut their price target on Abercrombie & Fitch from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price objective on Abercrombie & Fitch from $190.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $220.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.29.

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.