IFG Advisory LLC Acquires New Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

IFG Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 8,616 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,995,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,923,399,000 after acquiring an additional 662,382 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,112,747,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,855,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $909,575,000 after purchasing an additional 496,153 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $713,202,000 after buying an additional 667,695 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in American Express by 8.2% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,595,370 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $590,940,000 after buying an additional 195,876 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AXP. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $263.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Compass Point began coverage on shares of American Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.70.

American Express Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded down $1.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $258.65. 3,442,125 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,963,967. The stock has a market cap of $186.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $242.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.59. American Express has a 12-month low of $140.91 and a 12-month high of $261.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.26 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.60 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.24 earnings per share for the current year.

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.