American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stock Position Raised by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC lifted its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 866,110 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,984,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. raised its holdings in American Express by 42.2% in the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. StockNews.com cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report 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 stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $305.37 on Tuesday. American Express has a 1-year low of $163.32 and a 1-year high of $305.80. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $276.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

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.