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

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 34,591 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 23% compared to the typical daily volume of 28,068 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on AEO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.10.

Insider Transactions at American Eagle Outfitters

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, Director David M. Sable sold 5,000 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.22, for a total value of $96,100.00. Following the sale, the director owned 48,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $934,860.80. The trade was a 9.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Noel Joseph Spiegel sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.12, for a total transaction of $724,800.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 138,766 shares of company stock worth $2,515,354. Company insiders own 8.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 41.7% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,307,326 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $22,196,000 after purchasing an additional 678,536 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 59.6% during the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 108,644 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after buying an additional 40,563 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 170.8% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 41,165 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 25,962 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 29.4% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 142,328 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,654,000 after buying an additional 32,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters during the second quarter valued at about $144,000. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Eagle Outfitters Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE AEO opened at $24.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $17.40 and its 200 day moving average is $14.14. American Eagle Outfitters has a twelve month low of $9.27 and a twelve month high of $24.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, December 2nd. The apparel retailer reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.10. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 13.82% and a net margin of 3.90%.The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.10%.

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.