Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Acquires 550 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,569 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 550 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in American Express were worth $11,274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. grew its stake in shares of American Express by 42.2% in the second quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management bought a new stake in American Express during the second quarter worth $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. 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 research report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

Insider Activity

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE AXP opened at $301.30 on Monday. American Express has a 1 year low of $163.32 and a 1 year high of $301.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $276.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.35.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued 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 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.60%.

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.