American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $26.00 to $22.00. The stock had previously closed at $20.54, but opened at $17.30. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. American Eagle Outfitters shares last traded at $17.86, with a volume of 4,743,434 shares changing hands.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AEO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (down from $27.00) on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Eagle Outfitters presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, Director David M. Sable sold 18,420 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.04, for a total value of $405,976.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at $867,406.24. The trade was a 31.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jay L. Schottenstein sold 999,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.04, for a total transaction of $20,039,979.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,771,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,507,894.04. This represents a 36.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,050,702 shares of company stock worth $21,148,718 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Eagle Outfitters

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 171.1% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,548 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 2nd quarter worth about $78,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $108,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in American Eagle Outfitters in the third quarter valued at approximately $141,000. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The apparel retailer reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.02. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is 42.74%.

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.