Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC Buys New Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC bought a new stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 800 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $2,467,210,000 after purchasing an additional 906,353 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in shares of American Express by 924.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 768,301 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of American Express by 59,816.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 682,443 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $185,079,000 after purchasing an additional 681,304 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position 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 valued at $269,547,000 after purchasing an additional 486,755 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $96,943,000. Institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total value of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $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. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of AXP opened at $301.30 on Monday. American Express has a 1 year low of $163.32 and a 1 year high of $301.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $212.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average of $276.08 and a 200-day moving average of $253.35.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a return on equity of 32.46% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.