American Express (NYSE:AXP) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

American Express (NYSE:AXP) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. Approximately 1,058,508 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the previous session’s volume of 3,049,374 shares.The stock last traded at $224.15 and had previously closed at $217.50.

The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.01 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.79 billion. American Express had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 30.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS.

American Express Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 24.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens raised shares of American Express from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $148.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $214.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $157.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Express news, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 69,356 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $14,774,215.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,022,097.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Monique Herena sold 11,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.41, for a total value of $2,342,945.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,874 shares in the company, valued at $2,891,480.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 172,047 shares of company stock worth $36,528,388. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 118,198.3% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,732,068 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,028,913,000 after acquiring an additional 13,720,460 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,503,902 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,847,452,000 after acquiring an additional 35,760 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,785,059 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,458,454,000 after acquiring an additional 448,060 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,983,750 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,308,336,000 after acquiring an additional 270,173 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 0.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,953,460 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,037,387,000 after acquiring an additional 41,443 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Up 3.2 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $219.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $187.79. The firm has a market cap of $162.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

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.