Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 39,600 Shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) by 10.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 346,200 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 39,600 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Eagle Outfitters were worth $4,023,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AEO. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 4th quarter worth about $242,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 95.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,916 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 524,879 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $8,750,000 after acquiring an additional 10,538 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 2,239.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 2,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 120,434 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,008,000 after acquiring an additional 32,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Down 7.5%

Shares of AEO stock opened at $9.32 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.90 and a 200-day moving average of $13.56. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.27 and a 12-month high of $22.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.96, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.51.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The apparel retailer reported ($0.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.25) by ($0.04). American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 20.75% and a net margin of 4.28%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 11th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.37%. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is currently 51.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters to $12.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.70.

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.