American Express (NYSE:AXP) Vice Chairman Sells $27,267,303.96 in Stock

American Express (NYSE:AXP) Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total value of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 110,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,642,315.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

American Express Trading Up 0.6 %

AXP opened at $236.09 on Thursday. American Express has a twelve month low of $140.91 and a twelve month high of $240.55. The company has a fifty day moving average of $225.31 and a 200-day moving average of $196.14. The stock has a market cap of $169.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.45, 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 (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 12.99 EPS for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This is a positive change from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

Institutional Trading of American Express

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its stake in American Express by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 23,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 11,587 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,171,000 after acquiring an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in American Express by 417.3% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 415,696 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $77,876,000 after acquiring an additional 335,338 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD. acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,460,000. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in American Express by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,806 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,837,000 after purchasing an additional 2,572 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on American Express from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.71.

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.