Aviso Wealth Management Purchases New Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Aviso Wealth Management purchased a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,195 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $595,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of American Express by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners grew its position in shares of American Express by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 422 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Express by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 10,384 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,404,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its position in shares of American Express by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 1,227 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. HSBC cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. BTIG Research cut shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $286.87 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.34. 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 $202.09 billion, a PE ratio of 21.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 12 month low of $157.97 and a 12 month high of $296.83.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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

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.