American Eagle Outfitters Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AEO)

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 8,664 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 51% compared to the average daily volume of 5,744 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AEO. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 27th. Barclays raised their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $20.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 92,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,629,608. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $20.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.33. American Eagle Outfitters has a one year low of $14.39 and a one year high of $26.44. The stock has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51.

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

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 12th were given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 12th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.05%.

Insider Transactions at American Eagle Outfitters

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 transaction of $53,936.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 7.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Eagle Outfitters

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEO. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,242,838 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $64,727,000 after purchasing an additional 865,355 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,472,073 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $89,263,000 after purchasing an additional 684,420 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $217,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,790,000. Finally, Gallacher Capital Management LLC lifted its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 83.9% during the second quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 34,699 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $693,000 after acquiring an additional 15,835 shares during the last quarter. 97.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.