Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Buys 743 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,323 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 743 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in American Express were worth $8,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 26,783.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,467,210,000 after buying an additional 906,353 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 924.2% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $197,149,000 after buying an additional 768,301 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in American Express by 8.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,923,399,000 after buying an additional 662,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in American Express by 71.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $269,547,000 after acquiring an additional 486,755 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Down 0.5 %

AXP stock opened at $285.54 on Tuesday. American Express has a 12 month low of $161.73 and a 12 month high of $296.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $201.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $273.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $251.72.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was 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 directly 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. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. HSBC downgraded shares of 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. Barclays increased their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

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.