Copley Financial Group Inc. Takes $473,000 Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,743 shares of the payment services company's stock, valued at approximately $473,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $3,104,735,000 after purchasing an additional 86,100 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in American Express by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in American Express by 5.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,249,415,000 after buying an additional 239,173 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in American Express by 0.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $1,074,168,000 after buying an additional 33,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $456,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Compass Point upped their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $259.45.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $1.84 during trading on Friday, hitting $302.14. 1,661,963 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,856,218. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $286.46 and its 200-day moving average is $259.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.23, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a one year low of $175.60 and a one year high of $307.82.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.