Financial Counselors Inc. Has $1.84 Million Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Financial Counselors Inc. grew its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 10.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,776 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 647 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth $453,000. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 119.6% during 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 in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 154,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $35,201,000 after buying an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in American Express by 9.6% during the second quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,881 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 30.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,440 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AXP shares. HSBC cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Hsbc Global Res cut American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock opened at $304.68 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $214.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $280.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $255.42. American Express has a 1 year low of $165.93 and a 1 year high of $307.82.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

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.