815 Shares in American Express (NYSE:AXP) Acquired by GSB Wealth Management LLC

GSB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 815 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth approximately $6,415,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its stake in American Express by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 3,351 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,559 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $810,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Accel Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of American Express by 21.1% in the first quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 1,741 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 8.3% during the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after buying an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AXP. Hsbc Global Res lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.09.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

American Express stock opened at $274.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $143.07 and a fifty-two week high of $286.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $265.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $246.71. The firm has a market cap of $193.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.