Avestar Capital LLC Grows Stock Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Avestar Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,886 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $1,325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. XML Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 9.8% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 119.6% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,497 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $8,993,000 after purchasing an additional 21,508 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its holdings in American Express by 2,196.4% in the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 8,244 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Express by 41.3% in the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of American Express by 219.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 164,861 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $37,537,000 after buying an additional 113,249 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.98, for a total transaction of $3,552,818.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,724,067.18. This trade represents a 10.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,176,150.56. This represents a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AXP. Evercore ISI raised their price target on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America boosted their target price 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. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of American Express from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. HSBC cut shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered shares of American Express from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $230.00 target price 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 issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $253.09.

American Express Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of AXP stock opened at $304.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $214.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $276.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.82. American Express has a twelve month low of $163.32 and a twelve month high of $305.80.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 32.46%. The business had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

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