American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 11,940,000 shares, a decline of 20.3% from the November 15th total of 14,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,700,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,283 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.49, for a total value of $49,061.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer M. Foyle sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.79, for a total transaction of $653,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 200,427 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,367,304.33. The trade was a 13.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,050,702 shares of company stock worth $21,148,718 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Eagle Outfitters

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Investors Research Corp grew its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 46,239 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 52,537 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $1,049,000 after buying an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1.1% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 93,000 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $1,856,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 49,669 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research report on Friday. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 2nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on American Eagle Outfitters from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $22.40.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AEO traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $17.20. The company had a trading volume of 6,246,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,684,296. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.51. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $19.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.24. American Eagle Outfitters has a one year low of $16.88 and a one year high of $26.44.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The apparel retailer reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.02. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 4.28% and a return on equity of 20.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. American Eagle Outfitters's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.74%.

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.