Capital Square LLC Sells 287 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Capital Square LLC decreased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 15.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,597 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 287 shares during the quarter. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in American Express by 26,783.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,467,210,000 after acquiring an additional 906,353 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 924.2% in the 2nd quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $197,149,000 after purchasing an additional 768,301 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 71.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $269,547,000 after buying an additional 486,755 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in American Express in the first quarter worth approximately $96,943,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Four investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Stock Up 0.9 %

American Express stock traded up $2.76 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $304.06. 366,995 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,889,135. American Express has a one year low of $163.32 and a one year high of $304.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $276.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.35. 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 company has a market cap of $214.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 1.72 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. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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