Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires New Shares in American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 11,236 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $131,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 0.7% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 528,510 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $6,141,000 after buying an additional 3,631 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 5,482.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 27,017 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 26,533 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the fourth quarter worth about $4,891,000. Brucke Financial Inc. purchased a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the fourth quarter worth about $256,000. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC grew its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 24,221 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on AEO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 target price on American Eagle Outfitters and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Cfra Research cut American Eagle Outfitters from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.70.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

Shares of AEO stock opened at $9.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of 7.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.51. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.27 and a 1-year high of $22.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $10.90 and a 200 day moving average of $13.60.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The apparel retailer reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.25) by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 4.28% and a return on equity of 20.75%. The company’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 11th. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.02%.

American Eagle Outfitters 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.