American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Bought by Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,824 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth about $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. increased its position in shares of American Express by 42.2% during the second quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

AXP opened at $305.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $215.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. American Express has a 1-year low of $163.32 and a 1-year high of $305.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $276.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $253.82.

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 the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This 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 company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AXP. Barclays lifted their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. BTIG Research lowered American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

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.