Burford Brothers Inc. Purchases 395 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Burford Brothers Inc. boosted its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 12.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,676 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the quarter. Burford Brothers Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $997,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. increased its stake in American Express by 42.2% in the second quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. BNP Paribas bought a new position in shares of American Express during the first quarter valued at about $40,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management bought a new position in shares of American Express during the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AXP shares. Barclays raised their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $267.23 on Friday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $141.02 and a fifty-two week high of $286.36. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $263.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.39. The company has a market capitalization of $192.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.