American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

Key Points

• American Eagle Outfitters shares experienced a significant price increase, gapping up from a closing price of $10.74 to an opening price of $11.41, and last traded at $12.47 with a high trading volume.
• Analysts have varied opinions on the stock, with three sell ratings, nine hold ratings, and one buy rating, and a consensus target price of $14.70.
• The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share, missing estimates by $0.04, and had a net margin of 3.73%, despite revenue slightly exceeding expectations.

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $10.74, but opened at $11.41. American Eagle Outfitters shares last traded at $12.47, with a volume of 6,151,152 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AEO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "underweight" rating and set a $9.00 target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters to $12.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Cfra Research lowered shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $14.70.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.82. The firm has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83 and a beta of 1.51.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The apparel retailer reported ($0.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.25) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.08 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 13.34%. American Eagle Outfitters's quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, July 11th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 11th. American Eagle Outfitters's dividend payout ratio is 51.02%.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,570,088 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $122,820,000 after purchasing an additional 346,135 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 29.9% in the 1st quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 7,791,193 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $90,534,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794,203 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,017,034 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $69,918,000 after purchasing an additional 511,694 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,305,889 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $61,654,000 after purchasing an additional 962,730 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 37.7% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,455,961 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $40,158,000 after purchasing an additional 946,904 shares in the last quarter. 97.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.