American Express (NYSE:AXP) CFO Caillec Christophe Le Sells 6,000 Shares

American Express (NYSE:AXP) CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded down $2.51 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $302.17. 871,271 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,879,267. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12 month low of $165.93 and a 12 month high of $307.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $280.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $255.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. increased its position in shares of American Express by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Express Company Profile

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.