American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Hold”

Zacks Research lowered shares of American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AEO. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a report on Friday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen raised American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings raised American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.55.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEO opened at $18.11 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $16.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. American Eagle Outfitters has a 12 month low of $14.06 and a 12 month high of $28.46.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 9th. The apparel retailer reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 23.63% and a net margin of 5.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American Eagle Outfitters will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a $0.1250 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.51%.

Insider Activity at American Eagle Outfitters

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, Director David Sable sold 5,779 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $99,572.17. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 53,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,477.63. This represents a 9.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Noel Spiegel sold 3,617 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.68, for a total transaction of $63,948.56. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,013 shares of company stock worth $229,350. 8.95% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $458,632,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,261,614 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $154,663,000 after purchasing an additional 509,326 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 162.9% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,336,392 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $105,818,000 after buying an additional 3,926,230 shares during the period. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,023,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters in the second quarter worth $27,637,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

American Eagle Outfitters Company Profile

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc is a specialty retailer focused on apparel, accessories and personal-care products. The company operates primarily through the American Eagle and Aerie brands, offering casual clothing, denim, footwear and accessories, as well as intimates, activewear and lifestyle products.

American Eagle serves teenagers and young adults, while Aerie focuses on intimates, activewear and loungewear. The company sells its products through a network of retail stores, brand websites and other digital channels in the United States and internationally.