Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. Makes New Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 894 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in American Express during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Express during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $2.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $302.65. The stock had a trading volume of 480,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,851,165. 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 company has a market cap of $213.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a 12-month low of $175.60 and a 12-month high of $307.82. The company’s 50 day moving average is $285.93 and its 200-day moving average is $259.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. American Express’s payout ratio is 20.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AXP shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. HSBC lowered shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $259.45.

American Express Company 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.