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

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 42,434 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 204% compared to the average daily volume of 13,945 call options.

American Express Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of American Express stock traded up $1.64 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $298.43. The company had a trading volume of 1,929,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,842,794. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $293.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $266.13. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $307.82. The firm has a market cap of $210.23 billion, a PE ratio of 21.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. American Express's payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AXP. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BTIG Research cut American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $263.68.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in American Express by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 6,129 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,419,000 after acquiring an additional 832 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association boosted its holdings in American Express by 159.0% during the 2nd quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 93,479 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $21,645,000 after acquiring an additional 57,392 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter worth $6,845,000. Finally, Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the second quarter valued at about $222,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.