Capital Investment Advisors LLC Has $32.61 Million Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 109,865 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $32,607,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AXP. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 962 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in American Express by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 161,538 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $37,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,097 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 11,031 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,554,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its position in American Express by 102.4% during the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 7,614 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,763,000 after buying an additional 3,853 shares during the period. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 10,865 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock traded up $1.36 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $294.66. The company had a trading volume of 533,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,978,252. The company has a market cap of $207.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $296.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $269.64. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value 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. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was 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 sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $272.64.

About American Express

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.