American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) by 8.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,918,295 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 226,821 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in American Eagle Outfitters were worth $65,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the third quarter worth $931,000. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,731,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,680,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 165.4% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,107,933 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $62,034,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the second quarter worth about $16,861,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reduced their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have 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 target price of $22.40.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

AEO opened at $16.69 on Friday. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.20 and a 12 month high of $26.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $18.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.51.

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

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is currently 42.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Eagle Outfitters

In related news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,283 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.49, for a total value of $49,061.67. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.79, for a total value of $653,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 200,427 shares in the company, valued at $4,367,304.33. This trade represents a 13.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 50,703 shares of company stock valued at $1,108,738. Company insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

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.