American Express (NYSE:AXP) Short Interest Update

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,350,000 shares, a decrease of 5.5% from the September 30th total of 8,840,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 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 approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Express

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in American Express by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,923,399,000 after purchasing an additional 662,382 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in American Express by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,595,370 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $590,940,000 after buying an additional 195,876 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in American Express by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,129,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $485,525,000 after buying an additional 387,166 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at $433,709,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in American Express by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,798,742 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $408,494,000 after buying an additional 224,079 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

AXP stock traded up $3.76 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $273.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 725,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,907,664. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market capitalization of $192.91 billion, a PE ratio of 19.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 12 month low of $148.33 and a 12 month high of $286.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $265.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $246.87.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that American Express will post 13.41 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

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.