Should You Buy Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)?

Should You Buy Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)?

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) was in 35 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. ANF has seen an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months. There were 27 hedge funds in our database with ANF positions at the end of the previous quarter.

In the financial world, there are tons of metrics market participants can use to monitor stocks. Two of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see just how much).

Just as key, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the marketplace. There are plenty of motivations for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a glance at the latest action encompassing Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF).

How have hedgies been trading Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 35 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 30% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the biggest position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF). Citadel Investment Group has a $224 million billion position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, with a $63 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include David Keidan’s Buckingham Capital Management, and Sean Cullinan’s Point State Capital.

As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Buckingham Capital Management, managed by David Keidan, established the most outsized position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF). Buckingham Capital Management had 49 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. also initiated a $48 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ANF investors: Sean Cullinan’s Point State Capital, SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management, and Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors.

Insider trading activity in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time period, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results shown by our time-tested strategies, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) is no exception.

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