Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 20,598 American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 20,598 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 1,510.1% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,509,057 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $41,826,000 after buying an additional 2,353,225 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,267,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 2,408.1% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 1,244,008 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $20,738,000 after buying an additional 1,194,408 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the fourth quarter worth about $17,558,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 868,408.0% during the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 868,508 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $14,478,000 after acquiring an additional 868,408 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters to $12.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, 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 for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.70.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

Shares of AEO opened at $9.32 on Friday. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.27 and a fifty-two week high of $22.83. The company has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.60.

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

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

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

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.