American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,003 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 194 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 42.2% in the 2nd 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 during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $305.37 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $276.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a twelve month low of $163.32 and a twelve month high of $305.80. The stock has a market cap of $215.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The business 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%. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express 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 sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express 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.