Insider Selling: American Express (NYSE:AXP) Insider Sells $21,049,740.62 in Stock

American Express (NYSE:AXP) insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

American Express Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $267.35 on Friday. American Express has a 52-week low of $141.02 and a 52-week high of $286.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $263.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.57. The company has a market capitalization of $192.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Advocates Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $216,000. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 1.3% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,524 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $956,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in American Express by 4.3% during the third quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 48,536 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $13,163,000 after acquiring an additional 1,999 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its holdings in American Express by 2.4% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 192,814 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $52,291,000 after purchasing an additional 4,570 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in American Express by 15.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 24,243 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $6,575,000 after purchasing an additional 3,319 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

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.