Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on American Express (NYSE:AXP)

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

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the first quarter worth approximately $6,145,000. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 10.9% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 175,154 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $47,125,000 after purchasing an additional 17,265 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 1,877 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $505,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. PVG Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. now owns 7,528 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $2,025,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on AXP. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, April 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Argus cut shares of American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of American Express from $367.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $296.05.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP traded up $3.61 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $322.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,836,018 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,838,021. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.25. American Express has a one year low of $220.43 and a one year high of $326.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $290.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.00.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The payment services company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 32.48% and a net margin of 15.31%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors 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 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.91%.

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.