Nwam LLC Acquires New Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,296 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $954,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $214,000. 49 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $254,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Express by 30.6% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,049 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651 shares during the period. Finally, L & S Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of American Express by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 28,337 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $7,685,000 after purchasing an additional 3,446 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upped their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $301.30 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $212.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 52 week low of $163.32 and a 52 week high of $301.92. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $276.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $253.35. 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 data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

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.