Executive Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Executive Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 757 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America boosted their target price on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $259.45.

American Express Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE AXP opened at $302.16 on Wednesday. American Express has a twelve month low of $167.77 and a twelve month high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market cap of $212.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.23, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $284.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $258.17.

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 net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

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.