True Wealth Design LLC Grows Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 332.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 83 shares during the quarter. True Wealth Design LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $29,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 493.9% in the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 7,382 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,002,000 after buying an additional 6,139 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in American Express by 13.5% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 534,851 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $145,052,000 after acquiring an additional 63,662 shares during the last quarter. Auxier Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the third quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of American Express by 2.8% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 148,832 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $40,363,000 after purchasing an additional 4,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,671,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $302.21 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $280.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $255.61. The company has a market cap of $212.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. American Express has a one year low of $165.93 and a one year high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

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.