Insider Selling: American Express (NYSE:AXP) CFO Sells 6,000 Shares of Stock

American Express (NYSE:AXP) CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $302.21 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $280.04 and a 200 day moving average of $255.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $212.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 12 month low of $165.93 and a 12 month high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in American Express in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 42.2% in the second quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.