American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Downgraded to “Equal Weight” Rating by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley lowered shares of American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $17.00 price objective on the apparel retailer’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $19.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AEO. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of 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. UBS Group lowered their price target on American Eagle Outfitters from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped 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 note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

American Eagle Outfitters stock opened at $15.84 on Wednesday. American Eagle Outfitters has a one year low of $15.36 and a one year high of $26.44. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $16.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.11. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.53.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The apparel retailer reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is currently 42.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.02, for a total value of $48,043.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 7.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters in the 3rd quarter valued at about $931,000. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the 3rd quarter worth $3,731,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the 3rd quarter worth $2,680,000. Dupree Financial Group LLC bought a new position in American Eagle Outfitters in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,146,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the 4th quarter valued at $1,557,000. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.