American Express (NYSE:AXP) Position Boosted by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC boosted its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 866,110 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned approximately 1.56% of American Express worth $2,984,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,170,447 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $317,261,000 after acquiring an additional 122,076 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in American Express by 17.8% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 6,652 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in American Express by 1.3% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 41,569 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $11,274,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $217,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of American Express by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,824 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,308,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

AXP stock opened at $305.37 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $215.12 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 12 month low of $163.32 and a 12 month high of $305.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $276.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $253.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The company 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%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $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 owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

About American Express

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.