American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $12.18, but opened at $12.60. American Eagle Outfitters shares last traded at $12.82, with a volume of 4,162,748 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AEO shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Eagle Outfitters has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $14.40.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $11.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The apparel retailer reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by ($0.04). American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 13.34% and a net margin of 3.73%.The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 11th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is currently 51.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Eagle Outfitters

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,570,088 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $122,820,000 after purchasing an additional 346,135 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 29.9% in the 1st quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 7,791,193 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $90,534,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794,203 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,329,202 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $60,887,000 after purchasing an additional 312,168 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,305,889 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $61,654,000 after purchasing an additional 962,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 37.7% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,455,961 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $40,158,000 after purchasing an additional 946,904 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

About American Eagle Outfitters

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.