American Express (NYSE:AXP) Insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan Sells 9,485 Shares

American Express (NYSE:AXP) insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. This represents a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock traded down $0.36 on Thursday, hitting $320.18. 1,730,211 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,560,997. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.55 billion, a PE ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.24. American Express has a 1 year low of $205.60 and a 1 year high of $326.27. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $305.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 15.3 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,142 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Catalina Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $996,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 4,007 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,189,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Auxier Asset Management raised its stake in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,934,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abel Hall LLC increased its stake in American Express by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Compass Point reduced their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $309.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.38.

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.