American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) Shares Bought by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) by 113.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 40,800 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 21,700 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in American Eagle Outfitters were worth $680,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 15.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,222 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 3,209 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters in the third quarter valued at approximately $233,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 7.5% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,840 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 1,446 shares during the period. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 41.9% in the third quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC now owns 22,495 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 6,646 shares during the period. Finally, Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters in the third quarter valued at approximately $470,000. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Eagle Outfitters

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,999 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.02, for a total value of $48,043.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AEO. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley downgraded American Eagle Outfitters from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James initiated coverage on American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.44.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Down 6.3 %

AEO opened at $12.26 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $15.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.22. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.22 and a twelve month high of $26.44. The company has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.53.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The apparel retailer reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.02. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 20.75% and a net margin of 4.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is 42.74%.

American Eagle Outfitters 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.