Holocene Advisors LP Boosts Stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Holocene Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 371.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 202,705 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 159,694 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in American Express were worth $54,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in American Express during the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was 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 directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI upped their price target 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. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four 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. According to MarketBeat, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $302.21 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $212.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a twelve month low of $165.93 and a twelve month high of $307.82. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $280.04 and its 200 day moving average is $255.61.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

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.