Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 575,969 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 35,211 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.08% of American Express worth $159,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % 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 valued at $26,423,439 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Express from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of 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, BTIG Research downgraded shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $259.45.

American Express Stock Up 0.5 %

AXP stock traded up $1.49 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $303.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,813,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,851,910. 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 52-week low of $177.81 and a 52-week high of $307.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.23, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $286.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $259.98.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

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