American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.11 EPS

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The apparel retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.11, Briefing.com reports. 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 net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 17.76%. The business’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

American Eagle Outfitters stock opened at $22.27 on Friday. American Eagle Outfitters has a 1 year low of $9.95 and a 1 year high of $26.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.13. The company has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.59.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.14%.

Insider Activity at American Eagle Outfitters

In related news, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total value of $420,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 232,459 shares in the company, valued at $4,881,639. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other American Eagle Outfitters news, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 24,271 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.11, for a total transaction of $488,089.81. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 232,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,674,750.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $420,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 232,459 shares in the company, valued at $4,881,639. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 106,634 shares of company stock worth $2,198,937. 7.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 105,745 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,238,000 after acquiring an additional 12,840 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 4th quarter worth about $67,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 4th quarter worth about $669,000. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 535,656 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $11,334,000 after acquiring an additional 2,927 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 78,450 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,660,000 after acquiring an additional 5,877 shares during the period. 90.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AEO shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $15.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 4th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.82.

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

American Eagle Outfitters Company Profile

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc operates as a specialty retailer that provides clothing, accessories, and personal care products under the American Eagle and Aerie brands in the United States and internationally. The company provides jeans, apparel and accessories, and personal care products for women and men; and intimates, apparel, activewear, and swim collections.