Hilltop Holdings Inc. Has $3.77 Million Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,912 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 3,552 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in American Express by 371.3% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 202,705 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $54,974,000 after buying an additional 159,694 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 8.3% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 6,630 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 326.3% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 37,649 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $10,221,000 after acquiring an additional 28,817 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its position in American Express by 19.2% during the third quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 3,912 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the third quarter valued at about $66,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of AXP opened at $302.21 on Tuesday. American Express has a 52 week low of $165.93 and a 52 week high of $307.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $280.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $255.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised their price target on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were 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 approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.