Cypress Capital Group Purchases 45 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Cypress Capital Group lifted its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,247 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in American Express were worth $609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the first quarter worth $213,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 95.6% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,812 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,006,000 after purchasing an additional 4,306 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 13.4% during the first quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in American Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $175,000. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 9.1% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,046,904 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $238,370,000 after acquiring an additional 87,331 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. HSBC lowered American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

American Express Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $293.27 on Friday. American Express has a twelve month low of $162.85 and a twelve month high of $296.83. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $275.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $252.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.59 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

American Express Company 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.