Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 284,965 Shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,003,990 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 284,965 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 5.57% of American Eagle Outfitters worth $232,846,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 6,980.0% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,416 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 54.2% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,984 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters in the 4th quarter valued at $144,000. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AEO. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised American Eagle Outfitters from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

AEO stock opened at $24.66 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.67. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.95 and a fifty-two week high of $26.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a PE ratio of 28.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.60.

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

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. American Eagle Outfitters’s payout ratio is presently 58.14%.

American Eagle Outfitters declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback 30,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the apparel retailer to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other American Eagle Outfitters news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of American Eagle Outfitters 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 1,908 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total value of $46,917.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO James H. Keefer, Jr. sold 7,000 shares of American Eagle Outfitters stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.82, for a total value of $180,740.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,808.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,319 shares of company stock valued at $1,312,938. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.