Spire Wealth Management Grows Stake in American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)

Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) by 4,019.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,791 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,291 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in American Eagle Outfitters were worth $1,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 6,980.0% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,416 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 54.2% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,984 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,049 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the fourth quarter valued at $144,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AEO shares. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.18.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

AEO opened at $24.28 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.23, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.59. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.95 and a fifty-two week high of $26.44.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The apparel retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.14%.

American Eagle Outfitters announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback 30,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the apparel retailer to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at American Eagle Outfitters

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 26,440 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.66, for a total transaction of $652,010.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 226,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,585,416.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other American Eagle Outfitters news, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 26,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.66, for a total transaction of $652,010.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 226,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,585,416.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total value of $46,917.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 72,319 shares of company stock valued at $1,732,938. 7.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.