Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Purchases New Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 854 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,207 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $13,481,000 after purchasing an additional 5,764 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 39.8% during the 1st quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,444 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 16,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,673,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 5,895 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Lavaca Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 5,471 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,246,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP stock opened at $301.30 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $276.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.23. 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 firm has a market cap of $212.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 1-year low of $163.32 and a 1-year high of $301.92.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is 20.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research note 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.