American Express (NYSE:AXP) Insider Sells $829,500.56 in Stock

American Express (NYSE:AXP) insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total value of $829,500.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,932 shares in the company, valued at $4,602,896.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $239.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $172.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $240.55. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $225.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.42.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in American Express by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,953,460 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,037,387,000 after acquiring an additional 41,443 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,855,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $909,575,000 after purchasing an additional 496,153 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $713,202,000 after buying an additional 667,695 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in American Express by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,595,370 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $590,940,000 after buying an additional 195,876 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AXP shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, April 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. HSBC raised their price target on shares of American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their target price on American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on American Express from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.71.

About American Express

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.