Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Invests $4.89 Million in American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 293,399 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,891,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 95.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,916 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 258.8% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,045 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,475 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 2,239.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 2,463 shares during the period. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in American Eagle Outfitters in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 137.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,358 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,944 shares during the period. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AEO. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays lowered 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 report on Monday, May 12th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a report on Friday. Bank of America lowered 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 report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned 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.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AEO opened at $10.95 on Monday. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.45 and a fifty-two week high of $22.85. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.07. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.56.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The apparel retailer reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.25) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 4.28% and a return on equity of 20.75%. American Eagle Outfitters’s revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Eagle Outfitters Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.