Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas Makes New Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 21,015 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,699,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AXP. Old Port Advisors purchased a new position in American Express in the second quarter worth about $241,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 27.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,395 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after buying an additional 1,151 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in shares of American Express by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 71,181 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $17,792,000 after buying an additional 9,483 shares in the last quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter valued at about $207,000. Finally, Saxon Interests Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Express by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 4,900 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at American Express

In other American Express news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 worth $26,423,439 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. 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 report on Monday. HSBC cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $259.45.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $301.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $212.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $285.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $259.21. American Express has a one year low of $175.60 and a one year high of $307.82.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. Equities analysts expect that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

About American Express

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.