American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $20.63 and last traded at $20.5350, with a volume of 4742047 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $19.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AEO shares. Zacks Research raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Barclays increased their price target on American Eagle Outfitters from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on American Eagle Outfitters in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $11.00) on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Eagle Outfitters has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.11.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Up 4.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.62. The company has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.76 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $16.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.70.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.25. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 13.67% and a net margin of 3.74%.The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. American Eagle Outfitters’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is presently 48.08%.

Insider Activity

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, Director Noel Joseph Spiegel sold 40,000 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.12, for a total value of $724,800.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,945 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.95, for a total value of $49,917.75. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 138,766 shares of company stock valued at $2,515,354 in the last ninety days. 8.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 920.6% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,497,720 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $94,066,000 after purchasing an additional 4,959,039 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters in the 1st quarter valued at $38,588,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in American Eagle Outfitters in the 1st quarter worth $18,140,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the 3rd quarter worth $23,395,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 37.7% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,455,961 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $40,158,000 after acquiring an additional 946,904 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

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.