American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) PT Raised to $32.00

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at Barclays from $30.00 to $32.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the apparel retailer’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 27.85% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on AEO. UBS Group raised their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded American Eagle Outfitters from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. StockNews.com lowered American Eagle Outfitters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.18.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE AEO traded up $0.64 during trading on Monday, reaching $25.03. 1,206,651 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,501,536. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.10. American Eagle Outfitters has a 52-week low of $9.95 and a 52-week high of $26.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.59.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The apparel retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 3.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase 30,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the apparel retailer to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO James H. Keefer, Jr. sold 7,000 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.82, for a total transaction of $180,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,266 shares in the company, valued at $445,808.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total transaction of $46,917.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO James H. Keefer, Jr. sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.82, for a total transaction of $180,740.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,808.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 72,319 shares of company stock worth $1,732,938 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 7.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AEO. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1,050.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,681,465 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $56,740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448,400 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 37.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,092,955 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $128,927,000 after buying an additional 1,663,569 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Eagle Outfitters during the fourth quarter valued at $20,917,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 62.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,233,659 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $47,264,000 after acquiring an additional 860,578 shares during the period. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the third quarter worth about $12,592,000. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.