Sound Income Strategies LLC Raises Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 129.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,164 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 657 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its holdings in American Express by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,211 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,605 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on American Express from $223.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $239.96.

American Express Trading Up 2.1 %

AXP stock opened at $276.16 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $198.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.75, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 52-week low of $140.91 and a 52-week high of $277.11. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $256.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $242.17.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The business had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

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.