Toronto Dominion Bank Increases Stock Holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 301,155 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 65,507 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in American Express were worth $81,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in American Express by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,483,512 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,104,735,000 after acquiring an additional 86,100 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 866,110 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,606,986 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,249,415,000 after acquiring an additional 239,173 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in American Express by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,960,842 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,074,168,000 after purchasing an additional 33,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in American Express by 0.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,682,959 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $456,418,000 after purchasing an additional 7,676 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $1,820,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 ownership of the stock. 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 quarter. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXP has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on American Express from $286.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of 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, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $259.45.

American Express Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $302.16 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $212.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $284.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $258.17. American Express has a 52-week low of $167.77 and a 52-week high of $307.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

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.