B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Makes New Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 72,637 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,698,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. XML Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 119.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $8,993,000 after acquiring an additional 21,508 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its position in shares of American Express by 2,196.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after acquiring an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $162,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of American Express by 219.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 164,861 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $37,537,000 after acquiring an additional 113,249 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on AXP shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of American Express from $248.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

American Express Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:AXP opened at $285.54 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $201.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $273.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.72. American Express has a 12 month low of $161.73 and a 12 month high of $296.83.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. Analysts expect that American Express will post 13.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio 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.