Buckley Wealth Management LLC Sells 86 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Buckley Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 7.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,151 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,112,747,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of American Express by 62.1% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,399,494 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $449,521,000 after buying an additional 919,337 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1,313.2% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 768,769 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,440,210,000 after purchasing an additional 714,370 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,839,276 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $713,202,000 after purchasing an additional 667,695 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 969.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 602,726 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $112,910,000 after purchasing an additional 546,389 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of American Express from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, BTIG Research began coverage on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.30.

American Express Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of AXP traded up $3.06 on Friday, hitting $231.46. 1,130,294 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,035,369. The company has a market capitalization of $166.49 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $234.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $215.26. American Express has a one year low of $140.91 and a one year high of $244.41.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The payment services company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.36. American Express had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total value of $3,578,087.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 16,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,957,361.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Skyler sold 14,802 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total transaction of $3,578,087.46. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,957,361.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 38,873 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $9,276,263.99. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 76,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,209,855.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 177,717 shares of company stock valued at $41,680,999. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.