American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Wesbanco Bank Inc.

Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 17.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,178 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,133,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AXP. CX Institutional lifted its position in American Express by 653.3% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 39,835 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $10,803,000 after acquiring an additional 34,547 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 5,742 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 1,069.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 11,135 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after purchasing an additional 10,183 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $965,000. Finally, Stablepoint Partners LLC increased its position in American Express by 0.8% during the third quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 6,989 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,895,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $277.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.47 billion, a PE ratio of 22.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $281.42. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $258.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The company had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $223.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $242.33.

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.