American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Shares Climb 4.4% – What’s Next?

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)’s stock price was up 4.4% on Monday. The company traded as high as $18.58 and last traded at $18.69. 339,918 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 94% from the average session volume of 5,482,446 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.91.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.55.

American Eagle Outfitters Trading Up 4.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.59. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.28.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 9th. The apparel retailer reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.57. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 23.63%. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.1250 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is currently 25.51%.

Insider Transactions at American Eagle Outfitters

In related news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 3,617 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.20, for a total value of $65,829.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Noel Spiegel sold 3,617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.68, for a total transaction of $63,948.56. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 8.95% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $458,632,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 5.8% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 162.9% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,336,392 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $105,818,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926,230 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,023,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters in the second quarter worth $27,637,000. Institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

American Eagle Outfitters Company Profile

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc is a specialty retailer that designs, markets and sells apparel, accessories and personal-care products. The company serves teens and young adults through its American Eagle brand, which offers casual clothing including jeans, tops, outerwear, underwear and related accessories.

American Eagle Outfitters also operates Aerie, a lifestyle brand focused on intimates, activewear, swimwear, loungewear and apparel, as well as OFFLINE by Aerie, which emphasizes active and leisure clothing.