American Express Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:AXP)

American Express (NYSE:AXP) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 42,434 call options on the company. This is an increase of 204% compared to the typical daily volume of 13,945 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Compass Point lifted their target price on American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. HSBC cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen increased 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $268.95.

American Express Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of AXP opened at $303.08 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $293.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $266.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 52 week low of $177.81 and a 52 week high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. 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 firm earned $3.30 EPS. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 10.2% in the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 6,129 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,419,000 after buying an additional 832 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association increased its holdings in American Express by 159.0% during the second quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 93,479 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $21,645,000 after buying an additional 57,392 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new stake in American Express during the second quarter worth $6,845,000. Finally, Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter worth about $222,000. 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.