InvesTrust Acquires New Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

InvesTrust bought a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 4,200 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,249,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $272.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Up 0.7 %

American Express stock traded up $2.07 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $304.09. The stock had a trading volume of 724,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,873,244. The company has a market capitalization of $214.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a one year low of $177.81 and a one year high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $295.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $268.18.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

American Express 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.