Wolff Wiese Magana LLC Boosts Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,929 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 270 shares during the quarter. American Express makes up about 2.0% of Wolff Wiese Magana LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 26,783.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,467,210,000 after buying an additional 906,353 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,984,208,000 after buying an additional 866,110 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 924.2% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $197,149,000 after buying an additional 768,301 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $185,079,000 after buying an additional 681,304 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 71.9% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $269,547,000 after buying an additional 486,755 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were 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 directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of American Express from $252.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $278.09.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $305.46 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $177.81 and a fifty-two week high of $307.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $270.60. The company has a market cap of $215.18 billion, a PE ratio of 22.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced 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 net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

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.