Townsquare Capital LLC Buys 17,769 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 78.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,522 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,769 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $10,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. XML Financial LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 9.8% during the third 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 last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 119.6% during the first 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 last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 41.3% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’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 transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the sale, the insider now 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % 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 American Express stock opened at $304.28 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $214.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12 month low of $163.61 and a 12 month high of $307.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $278.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $254.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. American Express’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors 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 yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price 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. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

American Express 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.