Short Interest in American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) Rises By 6.8%

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) saw a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 24,550,000 shares, an increase of 6.8% from the March 31st total of 22,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,470,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.5 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total value of $46,917.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total transaction of $46,917.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 16,971 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.53, for a total value of $433,269.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 226,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,782,468.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 72,319 shares of company stock worth $1,732,938 in the last quarter. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 299.7% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,207 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 6,980.0% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,416 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,080 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised American Eagle Outfitters from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.18.

American Eagle Outfitters Trading Down 2.3 %

AEO stock opened at $23.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a PE ratio of 27.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.21. American Eagle Outfitters has a 1 year low of $9.95 and a 1 year high of $26.44.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The apparel retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 3.23%. American Eagle Outfitters’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase 30,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.14%.

American Eagle Outfitters Company Profile

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.