American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 130,719 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 665 shares during the period. American Express accounts for 2.8% of Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in American Express were worth $35,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Express by 62.5% during the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. raised its position in American Express by 42.2% during the second quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in American Express during the first quarter valued at $38,000. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $242.33.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $276.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $199.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $261.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $243.90. American Express has a 1 year low of $140.91 and a 1 year high of $286.36.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.06%.

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.