Quantum Financial Advisors LLC Has $700,000 Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Quantum Financial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 27.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,358 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 910 shares during the quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Express by 332.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the third quarter worth $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AXP. HSBC cut American Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $270.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Compass Point increased their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on American Express from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $277.82.

American Express Stock Up 1.4 %

AXP stock opened at $297.33 on Tuesday. American Express has a twelve month low of $177.81 and a twelve month high of $307.82. The company has a market cap of $209.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $297.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $270.12.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. The trade was a 41.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 13,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 109,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,724,067.18. This represents a 10.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,998 shares of company stock valued at $26,423,439 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Express Company 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.