Synovus Financial Corp Acquires 856 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 23,491 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 856 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in American Express were worth $6,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXP. XML Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 9.8% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its position in American Express by 2,196.4% in the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in American Express by 41.3% in the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 4.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,012 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $177,097,000 after purchasing an additional 28,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 1.7% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 239,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $64,820,000 after buying an additional 3,912 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $302.19 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $212.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 1-year low of $175.60 and a 1-year high of $307.82. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $286.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $259.66.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. American Express’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’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 transaction 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 approximately $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on AXP. Barclays increased their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $259.45.

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.