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

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 8,195 call options on the company. This is an increase of 53% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,356 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AEO. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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. Barclays increased 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, April 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

Insider Activity at American Eagle Outfitters

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, CAO James H. Keefer, Jr. sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.82, for a total value of $180,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,266 shares in the company, valued at $445,808.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 26,440 shares of the company’s 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO James H. Keefer, Jr. sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.82, for a total transaction of $180,740.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,808.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,319 shares of company stock valued at $1,312,938. Corporate insiders own 7.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Eagle Outfitters

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 1,050.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,681,465 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $56,740,000 after acquiring an additional 2,448,400 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter worth approximately $61,315,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 37.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,092,955 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $128,927,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663,569 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters during the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,917,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 62.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,233,659 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $47,264,000 after acquiring an additional 860,578 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE AEO traded up $0.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $22.89. 879,569 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,277,719. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.50 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.60. American Eagle Outfitters has a 52-week low of $9.95 and a 52-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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.11. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 17.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase 30,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the apparel retailer to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.14%.

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.