Aviso Wealth Management Acquires Shares of 2,195 American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Aviso Wealth Management acquired a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,195 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $595,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Founders Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. 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 note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.09.

American Express Trading Down 0.5 %

AXP opened at $286.87 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $272.31 and its 200-day moving average is $251.34. American Express has a 1-year low of $157.97 and a 1-year high of $296.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market cap of $202.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly 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 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of American Express 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.