American Express Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:AXP)

American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 62,230 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 406% compared to the average volume of 12,305 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $244.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of American Express from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $274.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.05.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 9,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.50, for a total value of $2,603,475.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,402 shares in the company, valued at $2,590,251. This represents a 50.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 3,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.66, for a total transaction of $799,008.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,822.54. This trade represents a 21.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Express

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AXP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in American Express by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,334,299,000 after purchasing an additional 605,900 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in American Express by 13.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,849,777,000 after purchasing an additional 2,168,445 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in American Express by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,752,084 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,484,312,000 after purchasing an additional 268,572 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in American Express by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,825,135 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,025,632,000 after purchasing an additional 955,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in American Express in the fourth quarter worth $1,785,867,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Trading Up 0.7%

American Express stock opened at $319.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $223.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. American Express has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $326.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $290.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $289.00.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.04 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 32.48%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 22.91%.

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.