American Eagle Outfitters Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:AEO)

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 27,403 call options on the company. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof48% compared to the typical daily volume of 18,473 call options.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEO opened at $12.99 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $10.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26 and a beta of 1.51. American Eagle Outfitters has a one year low of $9.27 and a one year high of $22.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The apparel retailer reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 13.34% and a net margin of 3.73%. American Eagle Outfitters’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th were issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 11th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Cfra Research cut shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.70.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Eagle Outfitters

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 50.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,554 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 4,188 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 2nd quarter valued at $190,000. Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,732 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 5,414 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 2nd quarter valued at $310,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 53,923 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

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.