Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Stock Price

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) had its price objective hoisted by Bank of America from $11.00 to $18.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the apparel retailer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on AEO. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $10.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.10.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock opened at $23.97 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.05 and a beta of 1.44. American Eagle Outfitters has a 12 month low of $9.27 and a 12 month high of $24.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 2nd. The apparel retailer reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 3.74% and a return on equity of 13.67%. American Eagle Outfitters’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio is 43.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Janice E. Page sold 26,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.04, for a total value of $484,716.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 90,383 shares in the company, valued at $1,630,509.32. This trade represents a 22.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Noel Joseph Spiegel sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.12, for a total transaction of $724,800.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 138,766 shares of company stock worth $2,515,354. Insiders own 8.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Eagle Outfitters

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AEO. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 920.6% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,497,720 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $94,066,000 after acquiring an additional 4,959,039 shares during the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,588,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter worth approximately $18,140,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $23,395,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 37.7% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,455,961 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $40,158,000 after buying an additional 946,904 shares in the last quarter. 97.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.