American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com cut shares of American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

AEO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $15.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $19.82.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE AEO opened at $25.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.59. American Eagle Outfitters has a 52-week low of $9.95 and a 52-week high of $26.44. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.15.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The apparel retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.11. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 3.23%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.14%.

American Eagle Outfitters announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase 30,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the apparel retailer to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.73, for a total value of $1,243,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 232,459 shares in the company, valued at $4,818,875.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.73, for a total transaction of $1,243,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 232,459 shares in the company, valued at $4,818,875.07. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,363 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $47,047.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,074 shares of company stock worth $3,031,688 over the last ninety days. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1,990.1% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,321,911 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $39,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,162,976 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 119,073.0% during the 1st quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,752,896 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $36,999,000 after buying an additional 2,750,586 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1,050.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,681,465 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $56,740,000 after buying an additional 2,448,400 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,571,205 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $170,967,000 after buying an additional 2,369,726 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 135.2% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,981,091 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $50,083,000 after buying an additional 1,713,420 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

American Eagle Outfitters Company Profile

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc operates as a multi-brand specialty retailer in the United States and internationally. The company provides jeans, apparel and accessories, and personal care products for women and men under the American Eagle brand; and intimates, apparel, activewear, and swim collections under the Aerie and OFFLINE by Aerie brands.