SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires New Holdings in American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)

SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 6,827 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $144,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 4.3% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 29,721,106 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $350,709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,617 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,453,599 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $339,734,000 after acquiring an additional 60,418 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 7.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,243,454 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $85,473,000 after acquiring an additional 488,571 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,924,912 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $99,543,000 after acquiring an additional 72,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,015,328 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $70,014,000 after acquiring an additional 903,782 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEO opened at $22.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.75. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.95 and a 1 year high of $26.44.

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

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

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is currently 58.14%.

Insider Activity at American Eagle Outfitters

In other American Eagle Outfitters 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 26,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 226,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,585,416.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 98,953 shares of company stock valued at $2,268,075 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 7.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AEO shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.27.

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.