Hardy Reed LLC Acquires 229 Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Hardy Reed LLC raised its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,428 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $2,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in American Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. boosted its stake in American Express by 42.2% in the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 165 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in American Express during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $48,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of American Express stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,691 shares in the company, valued at $29,724,067.18. The trade was a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AXP. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of American Express from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $268.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on American Express from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, BTIG Research cut American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Price Performance

AXP stock opened at $305.60 on Wednesday. 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 has a 52-week low of $163.32 and a 52-week high of $306.97. The company has a market capitalization of $215.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $277.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $254.26.

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

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. American Express’s dividend 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.