Zacks Investment Management Invests $54.77 Million in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 201,950 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,769,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. XML Financial LLC grew its position in American Express by 9.8% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its position in American Express by 2,196.4% during the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in American Express by 41.3% during the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in American Express by 4.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,012 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $177,097,000 after buying an additional 28,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC grew its position in American Express by 2.1% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 501,226 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $135,832,000 after buying an additional 10,364 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express 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 transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express 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 transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

American Express Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $304.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $214.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a 12-month low of $167.57 and a 12-month high of $307.82. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $282.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.08.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.