1,296 Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP) Purchased by Nwam LLC

Nwam LLC purchased a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,296 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. XML Financial LLC raised its position in American Express by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 119.6% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $8,993,000 after purchasing an additional 21,508 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its stake in American Express by 2,196.4% in the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $162,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of American Express by 219.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 164,861 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $37,537,000 after acquiring an additional 113,249 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $301.30 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $276.08 and a 200 day moving average of $253.35. 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 cap of $212.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a twelve month low of $163.32 and a twelve month high of $301.92.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company 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%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.