Connable Office Inc. Purchases 53 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Connable Office Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,606 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 53 shares during the quarter. Connable Office Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express in the second quarter worth $42,000. Founders Capital Management acquired a new position in American Express in the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the third quarter worth about $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of several analyst reports. HSBC cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $288.30 on Friday. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $157.00 and a fifty-two week high of $296.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $270.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.49. The stock has a market cap of $203.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.