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

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $21.00. The stock had previously closed at $20.54, but opened at $17.30. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock. American Eagle Outfitters shares last traded at $17.86, with a volume of 4,743,434 shares.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed 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. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price target on American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Barclays cut their price target on American Eagle Outfitters from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, CEO Jay L. Schottenstein sold 999,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.04, for a total value of $20,039,979.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,771,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,507,894.04. This trade represents a 36.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.49, for a total transaction of $49,061.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,050,702 shares of company stock worth $21,148,718. 7.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 2.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,749,561 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $218,293,000 after acquiring an additional 268,326 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 3rd quarter worth about $119,691,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,472,073 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $89,263,000 after purchasing an additional 684,420 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,370,626 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $97,858,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 36.4% in the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,242,838 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $64,727,000 after buying an additional 865,355 shares during the period. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.25, 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. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is currently 40.00%.

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.