American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) Short Interest Down 20.3% in November

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 11,940,000 shares, a drop of 20.3% from the November 15th total of 14,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,283 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.49, for a total transaction of $49,061.67. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.79, for a total value of $653,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 200,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,367,304.33. The trade was a 13.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,050,702 shares of company stock valued at $21,148,718. 7.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEO. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 171.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,548 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the second quarter worth about $78,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the second quarter worth about $108,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 3rd quarter valued at about $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

American Eagle Outfitters Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of AEO stock opened at $17.20 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.19. American Eagle Outfitters has a 12 month low of $16.88 and a 12 month high of $26.44.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The apparel retailer reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.02. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 20.75% and a net margin of 4.28%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. American Eagle Outfitters’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reduced their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (down previously from $27.00) on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.40.

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.