Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $2.12 Million Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 21.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,811 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Founders Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $30,176,150.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. HSBC downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $287.64 on Thursday. American Express has a one year low of $156.03 and a one year high of $296.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $270.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. 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.