Auxier Asset Management Increases Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Auxier Asset Management grew its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the quarter. Auxier Asset Management’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. XML Financial LLC grew 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 buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 119.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,993,000 after buying an additional 21,508 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its stake in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% during the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in American Express by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in American Express by 219.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 164,861 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $37,537,000 after purchasing an additional 113,249 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AXP. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America raised their target price on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This trade 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 Price Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $304.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $279.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $254.96. American Express has a 52-week low of $163.61 and a 52-week high of $307.82.

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

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

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.