American Express (NYSE:AXP) Share Price Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

American Express (NYSE:AXP)’s share price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $265.17 and traded as high as $299.70. American Express shares last traded at $297.33, with a volume of 2,392,783 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $263.68.

American Express Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $292.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $265.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $209.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Express

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 332.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.