Ascena Retail Group Inc. (NASDAQ:ASNA) updated its FY17 earnings guidance on Monday. The company provided EPS guidance of $0.60-0.65 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus EPS estimate of $0.83. The company issued revenue guidance of $6.9-7.0 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $7.13 billion.
Several equities analysts recently commented on ASNA shares. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Ascena Retail Group from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 2nd. FBR & Co reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $15.00 price target (down previously from $18.00) on shares of Ascena Retail Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 1st. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a market perform rating and issued a $10.00 price target (down previously from $11.00) on shares of Ascena Retail Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 1st. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Ascena Retail Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 1st. Finally, Cowen and Company reaffirmed a market perform rating and issued a $8.00 price target (down previously from $10.00) on shares of Ascena Retail Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The stock presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $13.73.
Ascena Retail Group Inc. (NASDAQ:ASNA) traded up 1.88% during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $8.12. 4,860,545 shares of the stock were exchanged. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.37. Ascena Retail Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.33 and a 52-week high of $14.76. The firm’s market cap is $1.56 billion.
Ascena Retail Group (NASDAQ:ASNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 19th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.08. The business earned $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. Ascena Retail Group had a negative net margin of 5.50% and a positive return on equity of 6.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 54.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ascena Retail Group Inc. will post $0.69 EPS for the current year.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ascena Retail Group by 3.4% in the second quarter. BlackRock Advisors LLC now owns 81,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $568,000 after buying an additional 2,667 shares during the period. BlackRock Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ascena Retail Group by 7.7% in the second quarter. BlackRock Investment Management LLC now owns 1,131,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,910,000 after buying an additional 81,024 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Ascena Retail Group by 30.6% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 96,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 22,524 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Fund Advisors increased its position in shares of Ascena Retail Group by 4.7% in the second quarter. BlackRock Fund Advisors now owns 8,558,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,824,000 after buying an additional 380,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company N.A. increased its position in shares of Ascena Retail Group by 0.6% in the second quarter. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company N.A. now owns 5,092,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,597,000 after buying an additional 29,892 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.47% of the company’s stock.
About Ascena Retail Group
Ascena Retail Group, Inc is a specialty retailer, which offers clothing, shoes and accessories for missy and plus-size women. The Company offers its products under the Ann Taylor, LOFT, Lane Bryant, maurices, dressbarn, Catherines and Justice brands. It operates through six segments: ANN, Justice, Lane Bryant, maurices, dressbarn and Catherines.