U S Global Investors Inc. Acquires 1,400 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 66.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,500 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 119.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $8,993,000 after acquiring an additional 21,508 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of American Express by 102.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,480 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,842,000 after acquiring an additional 6,329 shares during the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter worth $1,881,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its position in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% during the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after acquiring an additional 7,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its position in shares of American Express by 15.5% during the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 35,763 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $8,143,000 after acquiring an additional 4,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $244.58.

American Express Price Performance

NYSE AXP traded down $1.82 on Tuesday, hitting $268.92. 203,306 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,922,638. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. American Express has a 52 week low of $140.91 and a 52 week high of $286.36. The stock has a market cap of $193.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $261.94 and a 200-day moving average of $244.38.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The business 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 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. Analysts expect that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. American Express’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

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.