American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 11th

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 4th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of 0.125 per share by the apparel retailer on Friday, April 26th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th.

American Eagle Outfitters has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.9% per year over the last three years. American Eagle Outfitters has a dividend payout ratio of 26.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect American Eagle Outfitters to earn $1.89 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.5%.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

Shares of AEO stock opened at $24.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.59. American Eagle Outfitters has a 1-year low of $9.95 and a 1-year high of $26.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $23.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.43.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The apparel retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 17.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at American Eagle Outfitters

In related news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total value of $46,917.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other American Eagle Outfitters news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total transaction of $46,917.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO James H. Keefer, Jr. sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.82, for a total transaction of $180,740.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,266 shares in the company, valued at $445,808.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 158,953 shares of company stock worth $3,511,875 in the last ninety days. 7.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 97,811 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,643,000 after purchasing an additional 12,318 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 19,670 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 70.5% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 20,172 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 8,343 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 20,501 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 2,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 1st quarter worth approximately $432,000. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.82.

American Eagle Outfitters declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback 30,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.