World Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP - Free Report) by 430.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,765 shares of the payment services company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in American Express were worth $1,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AXP. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 26,783.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company's stock worth $2,467,210,000 after acquiring an additional 906,353 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in American Express by 8.5% in 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 during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its stake in American Express by 924.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 768,301 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in 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 valued at $185,079,000 after buying an additional 681,304 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew 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 valued at $269,547,000 after buying an additional 486,755 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Compass Point raised their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four 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, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $259.45.

American Express Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE AXP traded up $1.49 on Monday, reaching $303.63. 1,813,733 shares of the company's stock traded hands, 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. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $286.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $259.98. American Express has a 12 month low of $177.81 and a 12 month high of $307.82. The company has a market cap of $213.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

American Express (NYSE:AXP - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 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 $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

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.