American Express (NYSE:AXP) Insider Anna Marrs Sells 3,592 Shares

American Express (NYSE:AXP) insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of the business’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 owns 19,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,602,896.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

American Express Stock Up 0.1 %

AXP stock opened at $234.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $225.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.14. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $140.91 and a fifty-two week high of $240.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.79 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 14.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a boost 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth $1,112,747,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth $433,709,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth $210,540,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of American Express by 62.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,399,494 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $449,521,000 after purchasing an additional 919,337 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 1,313.2% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,440,210,000 after purchasing an additional 714,370 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on American Express from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on American Express from $221.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.