American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Hits New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $21.00 to $18.00. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock. American Eagle Outfitters traded as low as $15.36 and last traded at $15.54, with a volume of 7493200 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $16.23.

AEO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Raymond James started coverage on American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.60.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 135,392 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,257,000 after buying an additional 17,042 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 385,800 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $6,431,000 after purchasing an additional 24,600 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 4th quarter worth about $185,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 39,534 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 3,267 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in American Eagle Outfitters in the 4th quarter valued at about $195,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.52.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The apparel retailer reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 20.75% and a net margin of 4.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.74%.

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.