Swedbank AB Boosts Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 408,679 shares of the payment services company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,827 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned 0.06% of American Express worth $110,834,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Palisade Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 7,665 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $2,079,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Canopy Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Canopy Partners LLC now owns 4,477 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $1,214,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Express by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,259 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $6,037,000 after buying an additional 1,763 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in American Express by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 150,765 shares of the payment services company's stock valued at $40,887,000 after buying an additional 29,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in American Express by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 3,003 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $815,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded American Express from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock traded up $4.07 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $305.37. The stock had a trading volume of 3,476,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,903,494. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $215.12 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 12 month low of $163.32 and a 12 month high of $305.80. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $276.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $253.82.

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, 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 company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. American Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Company 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.