American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.13 (NYSE:AEO)

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 10th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.125 per share by the apparel retailer on Friday, January 24th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%.

American Eagle Outfitters has increased its dividend by an average of 2.9% annually over the last three years. American Eagle Outfitters has a payout ratio of 27.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect American Eagle Outfitters to earn $1.86 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.9%.

American Eagle Outfitters Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AEO remained flat at $17.70 during trading on Tuesday. 7,555,491 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,674,237. American Eagle Outfitters has a one year low of $16.88 and a one year high of $26.44. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 15.06, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $19.52 and its 200 day moving average is $20.36.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The apparel retailer reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.02. American Eagle Outfitters had a net margin of 4.28% and a return on equity of 20.75%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David M. Sable sold 18,420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.04, for a total transaction of $405,976.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,406.24. This represents a 31.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cary D. Mcmillan sold 2,283 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.49, for a total transaction of $49,061.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,050,702 shares of company stock worth $21,148,718 over the last quarter. 7.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (down previously from $27.00) on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.40.

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.