American Express Company $AXP Shares Purchased by Axxcess Wealth Management LLC

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 42.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,195 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 1,536 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $12,334,299,000 after purchasing an additional 605,900 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in American Express by 13.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,849,777,000 after purchasing an additional 2,168,445 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,454,667,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 1.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,093,807 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,370,489,000 after purchasing an additional 78,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 25.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,278,711,000 after purchasing an additional 965,221 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $330.75 on Thursday. American Express Company has a 12 month low of $220.43 and a 12 month high of $349.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $324.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $301.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $230.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.29.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The business had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AXP shares. HSBC set a $295.00 price objective on American Express and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price objective on American Express and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on American Express from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $327.00 price objective (up previously from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total transaction of $15,475,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 10,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,391,191.50. This represents a 82.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total value of $1,709,235.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.