PDS Planning Inc Increases Stock Position in American Express Company $AXP

PDS Planning Inc increased its position in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,358 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 141 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AXP. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,924,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,039 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in American Express by 117.8% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 27,419 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $7,377,000 after acquiring an additional 181,049 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. bought a new position in American Express during the 1st quarter valued at $687,000. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $854,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on AXP shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on American Express from $297.00 to $336.00 and gave the company a “cautious” rating in a report on Monday. BTIG Research set a $277.00 price target on American Express and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, HSBC set a $295.00 price target on shares of American Express and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $323.60.

American Express Trading Down 2.5%

American Express stock opened at $316.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $322.16 and its 200-day moving average is $300.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. American Express Company has a 1 year low of $220.43 and a 1 year high of $349.19. The company has a market cap of $220.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.29.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The business 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 earned $3.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 23,505 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.37, for a total value of $7,671,326.85. Following the sale, the insider owned 123,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,343,574.81. This trade represents a 15.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This trade represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.