American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Bought by Western Financial Corp CA

Western Financial Corp CA increased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 28.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,944 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares during the quarter. American Express makes up 0.9% of Western Financial Corp CA’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Western Financial Corp CA’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $65,000. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 12.2% in the third quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,758 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Sharkey Howes & Javer purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at $634,000. Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 5.1% in the third quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,474 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $671,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at $212,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Four investment 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.com, American Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $244.58.

American Express Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of AXP traded down $6.62 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $270.17. 2,602,550 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,928,530. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company has a market cap of $194.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.23, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $244.02. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $286.36.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. American Express’s payout ratio 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.