Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Raises Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,334 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 26,783.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 909,737 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,467,210,000 after buying an additional 906,353 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in American Express by 8.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,003,715 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $2,984,208,000 after purchasing an additional 866,110 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in American Express by 924.2% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 851,431 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $197,149,000 after purchasing an additional 768,301 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in American Express by 59,816.0% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 71.9% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,164,098 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $269,547,000 after purchasing an additional 486,755 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AXP. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $277.82.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP stock opened at $297.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $209.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $297.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $270.12. 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 $177.81 and a 1-year high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. American Express’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. 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 will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 valued at $26,423,439 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company 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.