Financial Advocates Investment Management Takes $216,000 Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Financial Advocates Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 795 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Founders Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. HSBC cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. 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. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

American Express Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $272.69 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $266.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $247.66. American Express has a 1-year low of $148.33 and a 1-year high of $286.36. The company has a market cap of $192.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’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 directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.