Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO)

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 18,984 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 94% compared to the average daily volume of 9,764 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AEO shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Perbak Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter valued at about $363,000. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 162,243 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,885,000 after purchasing an additional 32,191 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter valued at about $174,000. Junto Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter valued at about $38,588,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters during the 1st quarter valued at about $434,000. Institutional investors own 97.33% of the company’s stock.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Up 0.8%

AEO opened at $12.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.73. American Eagle Outfitters has a 52 week low of $9.45 and a 52 week high of $24.26. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.56.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.76%.

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.