American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eleven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.00.

AEO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut shares of American Eagle Outfitters from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective (down from $19.00) on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Up 1.3 %

American Eagle Outfitters stock opened at $16.02 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $16.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.09. American Eagle Outfitters has a twelve month low of $15.36 and a twelve month high of $26.44. The company has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.53.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The apparel retailer reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.02. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 4.28% and a return on equity of 20.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is presently 42.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.02, for a total transaction of $48,043.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AEO. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 3rd quarter valued at $119,691,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 40.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,370,626 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $97,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,693 shares during the last quarter. Soros Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,519,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,877,963 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $47,976,000 after acquiring an additional 381,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 511.9% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 430,860 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $7,182,000 after acquiring an additional 360,447 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.