American Express (NYSE:AXP) Shares Purchased by Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 1.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,656 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Express were worth $3,975,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. increased its position in shares of American Express by 42.2% during 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 stake in American Express in the third quarter worth about $46,000. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of American Express during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Express news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AXP. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of American Express from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded American Express from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $268.00 to $286.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Compass Point assumed coverage on American Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

American Express Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE AXP traded down $2.63 on Friday, reaching $267.35. The stock had a trading volume of 2,993,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,933,059. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. American Express has a 1 year low of $141.02 and a 1 year high of $286.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $263.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.39. The company has a market capitalization of $192.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $16.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that American Express will post 13.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. American Express’s payout ratio is presently 23.06%.

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.