Checchi Capital Advisers LLC Purchases 68 Shares of American Express Company $AXP

Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,378 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Diligent Investors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 4.8% during the second quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,750 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,196,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. boosted its stake in American Express by 6.5% during the second quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 6,852 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,186,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Single Point Partners LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the second quarter worth about $217,000. Finally, Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its stake in American Express by 7.3% during the second quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 84,483 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $26,948,000 after acquiring an additional 5,783 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Express Price Performance

AXP opened at $330.10 on Friday. American Express Company has a 52-week low of $220.43 and a 52-week high of $349.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $320.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $298.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.29.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The company had revenue of $17.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total value of $7,671,326.85. Following the transaction, the insider owned 123,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,343,574.81. This represents a 15.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares in the company, valued at $30,614,306.60. This trade represents a 54.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $327.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. DZ Bank cut shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $319.95.

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.