Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Purchases 2,217 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 57.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,059 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 2,217 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 430.6% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC increased its holdings in American Express by 9.8% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its stake in American Express by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 86,344 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $25,626,000 after buying an additional 2,557 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its position in American Express by 2,196.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after acquiring an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,203,772 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $655,137,000 after acquiring an additional 247,864 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’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 directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Compass Point raised their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $278.09.

Read Our Latest Research Report on American Express

American Express Stock Up 0.4 %

American Express stock opened at $312.75 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $299.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $272.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $220.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 52 week low of $177.81 and a 52 week high of $315.40.

American Express (NYSE:AXPGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.48 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.60%.

About American Express

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for American Express (NYSE:AXP)

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