American Eagle Outfitters Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:AEO)

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 8,195 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 53% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,356 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Up 1.4 %

AEO opened at $22.93 on Friday. American Eagle Outfitters has a twelve month low of $9.95 and a twelve month high of $26.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $24.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.89. The company has a market cap of $4.50 billion, a PE ratio of 26.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.60.

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

American Eagle Outfitters announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback 30,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the apparel retailer to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total value of $46,917.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total transaction of $46,917.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 26,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.66, for a total transaction of $652,010.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 226,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,585,416.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,319 shares of company stock valued at $1,312,938. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 37.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,092,955 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $128,927,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663,569 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 84.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 233,065 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after buying an additional 106,397 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,886,613 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $61,081,000 after buying an additional 44,375 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 596,391 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $9,906,000 after buying an additional 145,038 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.