Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Invests $38,000 in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 140 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,000.

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

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $302.11 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $256.46. The company has a market cap of $212.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. American Express has a one year low of $165.93 and a one year high of $307.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.39 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. The trade was a 48.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total value of $3,552,818.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 96,998 shares of company stock worth $26,423,439. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

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.