Aljian Capital Management LLC Makes New $884,000 Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Aljian Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,260 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $884,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 8.1% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,209 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 247.8% during the 3rd quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 8,694 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,358,000 after acquiring an additional 6,194 shares during the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Express by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 4,944 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,341,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Express by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 4,526 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,228,000 after acquiring an additional 873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at $221,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BTIG Research downgraded American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

American Express Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $286.87 on Monday. American Express has a 12 month low of $157.97 and a 12 month high of $296.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $272.31 and its 200-day moving average is $251.34. 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 cap of $202.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.47 EPS for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company 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.