Sunbelt Securities Inc. Acquires 324 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,266 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the third quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the 3rd 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. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in American Express during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in American Express in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AXP shares. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Four equities 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $259.45.

American Express Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $300.29 on Friday. American Express has a 1 year low of $170.15 and a 1 year high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market cap of $211.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $285.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $258.92.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About American Express

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.