American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also commented on AEO. Bank of America decreased their price target on American Eagle Outfitters from $20.00 to $16.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered American Eagle Outfitters from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $22.00 price objective on American Eagle Outfitters in a report on Monday, June 1st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $24.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.91.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

NYSE AEO opened at $17.14 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.12. American Eagle Outfitters has a twelve month low of $10.29 and a twelve month high of $28.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The apparel retailer reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.03. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 5.01%.The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.29) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David M. Sable sold 5,779 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $99,572.17. Following the sale, the director directly owned 53,481 shares in the company, valued at $921,477.63. This represents a 9.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Noel Joseph Spiegel sold 2,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.78, for a total value of $48,527.76. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 11,563 shares of company stock worth $196,599 in the last three months. Insiders own 8.95% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Eagle Outfitters

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in American Eagle Outfitters by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,000,419 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $158,231,000 after acquiring an additional 680,332 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 151,993.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 65,400 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,725,000 after purchasing an additional 65,357 shares in the last quarter. Broad Peak Investment Advisers Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the first quarter worth approximately $2,973,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the first quarter worth approximately $5,490,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,398,401 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $485,166,000 after purchasing an additional 249,158 shares during the last quarter. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Eagle Outfitters Company Profile

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc (NYSE: AEO) is a leading American specialty retailer offering apparel, accessories and personal care products for men and women. The company’s flagship brand, American Eagle, focuses on casualwear including denim, tops, outerwear and accessories targeted primarily at teens and young adults. In addition to its core apparel lines, the company operates the Aerie brand of intimates, loungewear and swimwear, which has gained recognition for its body-positive marketing and inclusive sizing.

American Eagle Outfitters conducts business through a combination of over 900 brick-and-mortar stores in North America and Greater China, complemented by a growing e-commerce platform that serves customers around the globe.