American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Bought by Reliant Investment Management LLC

Reliant Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 26,084 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 435 shares during the period. American Express comprises 3.4% of Reliant Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Reliant Investment Management LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $7,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in American Express by 23.9% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,979 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $3,469,000 after buying an additional 2,894 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 40,554 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $9,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,754 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 222,597 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $51,542,000 after purchasing an additional 14,347 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter valued at about $105,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,481 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $881,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the period. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AXP shares. Barclays upped their target price on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group upped their target price on American Express from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $278.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express 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 transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,433 shares of the company’s stock, 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 this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Express Stock Up 0.4 %

AXP opened at $312.75 on Tuesday. American Express has a 1-year low of $177.81 and a 1-year high of $315.40. 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 $220.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day moving average of $299.26 and a 200-day moving average of $272.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted 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. The company 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%. American Express’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.48 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.