Analysts Set American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) PT at $25.00

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.00.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AEO shares. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 27th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,577 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.93, for a total value of $53,936.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Eagle Outfitters

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,788,750 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $536,142,000 after purchasing an additional 310,808 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,003,990 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $232,846,000 after acquiring an additional 284,965 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $128,927,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663,569 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,886,613 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $61,081,000 after acquiring an additional 44,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1,050.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,681,465 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $56,740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448,400 shares during the period. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AEO opened at $21.74 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $21.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.32. American Eagle Outfitters has a 52-week low of $13.58 and a 52-week high of $26.44.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The apparel retailer reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 4.12% and a return on equity of 19.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 12th were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 12th. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.05%.

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.