American Express (NYSE:AXP) Stake Raised by Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC

Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,603 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 90 shares during the quarter. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. lifted its position in American Express by 42.2% in the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at $40,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the second quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP traded down $0.57 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $270.17. The company had a trading volume of 500,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,924,095. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $244.38. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $140.91 and a fifty-two week high of $286.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $194.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Bank of America lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $244.58.

About American Express

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.