American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 10.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,776 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management bought a new position in American Express during the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, HSBC cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, 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 sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $304.68 on Friday. American Express has a one year low of $165.93 and a one year high of $307.82. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $280.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $255.42. 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 market capitalization of $214.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm 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 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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