American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Bought by SkyView Investment Advisors LLC

SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,423 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $657,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. XML Financial LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% in the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 41.3% in the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in American Express by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,012 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $177,097,000 after acquiring an additional 28,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in American Express by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 239,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $64,820,000 after acquiring an additional 3,912 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last 90 days. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. HSBC lowered 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. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $259.45.

American Express Trading Down 0.7 %

AXP opened at $300.29 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $211.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $285.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $258.92. American Express has a 12 month low of $170.15 and a 12 month high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.