American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AEO. Barclays raised their price target on American Eagle Outfitters from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on American Eagle Outfitters from $19.00 to $21.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Cfra Research cut American Eagle Outfitters from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $10.00 price target (down from $11.00) on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $11.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $13.94.

American Eagle Outfitters Trading Down 6.3%

NYSE:AEO opened at $18.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.67 and a beta of 1.45. American Eagle Outfitters has a one year low of $9.27 and a one year high of $22.63. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $12.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.62.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 13.67% and a net margin of 3.74%.American Eagle Outfitters’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 54,950 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.14, for a total value of $996,793.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 221,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,010,880.98. This trade represents a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 9,002 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.11, for a total value of $163,026.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,821 shares of company stock valued at $2,465,436 in the last quarter. 8.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 319.2% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 44,570 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $518,000 after purchasing an additional 33,938 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 380.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,325 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,841 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 0.7% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 528,510 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $6,141,000 after purchasing an additional 3,631 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the first quarter valued at approximately $440,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 38.7% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 4,173 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares in 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.