Bridgewater Associates LP Raises Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Bridgewater Associates LP grew its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1,176.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,476 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 52,050 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in American Express were worth $15,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. XML Financial LLC increased its stake in American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in American Express by 119.6% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,993,000 after acquiring an additional 21,508 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its position in American Express by 2,196.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after acquiring an additional 7,885 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 41.3% in the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of American Express by 219.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 164,861 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $37,537,000 after purchasing an additional 113,249 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Express Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $304.28 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $278.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $254.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 1-year low of $163.61 and a 1-year high of $307.82. The firm has a market cap of $214.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the 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 $30,176,150.56. This 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research cut shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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.