Congress Asset Management Co. Reduces Position in American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)

Congress Asset Management Co. decreased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO - Free Report) by 99.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,230 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 4,172,556 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.'s holdings in American Eagle Outfitters were worth $247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter valued at about $146,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the first quarter valued at approximately $131,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 0.7% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 528,510 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $6,141,000 after purchasing an additional 3,631 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 5,482.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 27,017 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 26,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,891,000. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on AEO shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut American Eagle Outfitters from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $14.70.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEO traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $10.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,885,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,796,988. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.51. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $10.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.77. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.44 and a 1 year high of $22.83.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The apparel retailer reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.25) by ($0.04). American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 4.28% and a return on equity of 20.75%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 11th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.81%. American Eagle Outfitters's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.02%.

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.