American Express (NYSE:AXP) Share Price Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

American Express (NYSE:AXP)’s share price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $265.17 and traded as high as $299.70. American Express shares last traded at $297.33, with a volume of 2,392,783 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on AXP shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $263.68.

American Express Stock Down 1.2 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $291.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $265.17. The stock has a market cap of $209.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

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 firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of 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. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

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.