American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Bought by Ameritas Advisory Services LLC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 57.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,059 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,217 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $1,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in American Express by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 57,774 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $17,147,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 31,990 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $9,494,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its stake in American Express by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 47,949 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $14,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares during the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its holdings in American Express by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 1,507 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 75.4% during the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 3,367 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AXP shares. Compass Point raised their price target on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price 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. HSBC lowered American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on American Express from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $278.09.

American Express Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE AXP traded up $5.51 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $318.07. The stock had a trading volume of 2,777,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,368,782. The business's 50-day moving average price is $299.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $272.78. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $184.06 and a fifty-two week high of $319.70. 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 has a market cap of $224.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express's payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is 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.