Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Raises Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,499 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. lifted its stake in American Express by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Founders Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. HSBC cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen increased their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $286.73 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market cap of $201.99 billion, a PE ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 12-month low of $161.73 and a 12-month high of $296.83. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.34.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that American Express will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

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.