Shum Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 943 American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Shum Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 943 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American Express Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded down $1.35 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $303.86. 292,191 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,891,507. The business’s fifty day moving average is $276.97 and its 200-day moving average is $253.82. American Express has a 52-week low of $163.32 and a 52-week high of $306.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

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.