Holocene Advisors LP Has $54.97 Million Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 371.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 202,705 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 159,694 shares during the quarter. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in American Express were worth $54,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter valued at $225,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 21,126 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $4,892,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,111 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,110,000 after acquiring an additional 1,545 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 7,551 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,748,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,629 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,619,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $302.21 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $280.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $255.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 12 month low of $165.93 and a 12 month high of $307.82. 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 (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AXP. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays increased their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus 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.