Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,524 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $956,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AXP. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in American Express in the first quarter valued at $6,415,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its position in American Express by 8.8% in the first quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 3,351 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $763,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in American Express by 1.6% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,559 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $810,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Accel Wealth Management lifted its position in American Express by 21.1% in the first quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 1,741 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in American Express by 8.3% in the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AXP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $274.14 on Thursday. American Express has a 12-month low of $143.07 and a 12-month high of $286.36. The company has a market capitalization of $193.12 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $265.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $246.71.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

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.