Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Acquires 23,432 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 293.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,428 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,432 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in American Express were worth $8,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in American Express during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $300.29 on Friday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $170.15 and a fifty-two week high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $285.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $259.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AXP. Bank of America increased their price target on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $259.45.

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.