American Eagle Outfitters Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:AEO)

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 12,453 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 26% compared to the typical volume of 9,869 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AEO has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on American Eagle Outfitters from $16.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group dropped their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of American Eagle Outfitters from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Eagle Outfitters presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AEO. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,223,953 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $170,431,000 after buying an additional 413,193 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,933,628 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $165,594,000 after purchasing an additional 184,067 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in American Eagle Outfitters by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,505,340 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $91,774,000 after purchasing an additional 472,683 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Eagle Outfitters by 8.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,918,295 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $65,341,000 after buying an additional 226,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,877,963 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $47,976,000 after buying an additional 381,047 shares in the last quarter. 97.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEO traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $10.39. The company had a trading volume of 2,310,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,139,919. American Eagle Outfitters has a 12 month low of $9.45 and a 12 month high of $25.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.90.

American Eagle Outfitters Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.81%. American Eagle Outfitters’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.76%.

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.