American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) Receives $21.27 Average PT from Analysts

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.27.

AEO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. StockNews.com lowered American Eagle Outfitters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup upped 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th.

Insider Activity at American Eagle Outfitters

In related news, CAO James H. Keefer, Jr. sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.82, for a total value of $180,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,808.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other American Eagle Outfitters news, CAO James H. Keefer, Jr. sold 7,000 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.82, for a total transaction of $180,740.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,808.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total value of $46,917.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 72,319 shares of company stock valued at $1,732,938 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 7.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 4.3% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 29,721,106 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $350,709,000 after buying an additional 1,212,617 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,453,599 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $339,734,000 after acquiring an additional 60,418 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,003,990 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $232,846,000 after purchasing an additional 284,965 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 7.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,243,454 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $85,473,000 after purchasing an additional 488,571 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 37.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,092,955 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $128,927,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663,569 shares during the last quarter. 97.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

Shares of AEO opened at $22.38 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.81. American Eagle Outfitters has a 1 year low of $9.95 and a 1 year high of $26.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a PE ratio of 26.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.59.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The apparel retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.11. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 17.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. 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 2.23%. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is currently 58.14%.

American Eagle Outfitters declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase 30,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.