Geode Capital Management LLC Raises Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 86,100 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,104,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Auxier Asset Management boosted its position in shares of American Express by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 3.6% in the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC grew its position in American Express by 2.5% during the third quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in American Express by 10.5% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 422 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

AXP opened at $296.77 on Tuesday. American Express has a 1 year low of $167.77 and a 1 year high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $284.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $258.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 13.39 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. HSBC cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. TD Cowen raised their price target on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.95.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.